Hyderabad: Six migrant workers were charred to death in a major fire that broke out before dawn on Wednesday at Attapur. Langer Houz station fire officer M. Baswaraj said a commercial gas cylinder exploded in the heat of the fire when the first fire-fighting unit reached the spot.
It is suspected that the tin and asbestos sheets of which the shed was built heated up considerably after the fire broke out. “The room temperature was very high. After dousing the fire, we could feel the heat for four or five hours, which means that the workers were in an open furnace kind of situation,” said regional fire officer V. Papaiah.
The owner of the unit, D. Pramod Kumar has been taken into custody for questioning and booked for culpable homicide, said assistant commissioner of police K. Ganga Reddy. He has been booked under IPC section 304 clause (2) (culpable homicide amounting to murder).
GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy who visited the site announced financial assistance of '5 lakh to the families of the deceased. Home minister Naini Narsimha Reddy also visited the spot and announced that Rs 50,000 under the Apathbandhu scheme would be paid as well as Rs 25,000 for transporting the deceased to their homes. The deceased were identified as Md. Saddam, Shahrukh, Ayub Khan, Irfan Khan, Mujahid Ahmed and Md. Javed, all in their twenties. They worked as technicians and made battery-operated vehicles in an adjoining shop which belonged to the same owner.
The fire department was notified of the fire at about 5.20 am. By the time the first fire tenders reached the spot, the entire godown was engulfed in flames.
Mr Rajiv Ratan, director general of the Telangana state disaster response and fire services department, said, “It’s very sad that the youngsters who came from other states for a livelihood have lost their lives in such a manner. There could be many other such godowns operating.”
Cooler unit was illegal
Investigations by the Rajendranagar police found that the cooler manufacturing unit that went up in flames on Wednesday morning was set up illegally by D. Pramod Kumar, a businessman from Karwan.
He had been running the unit illegally for the last two years. Police have booked a case against the owner for culpable homicide. Pramod will be produced before the court on Thursday. The unit had no safety equipment and was not fit to accommodate workers as was detected.
“He had set up the makeshift tent using tin and asbestos sheets on his land. He buys components of the coolers and assembles them in this tent. He hires temporary workers from Jharkhand for a few months when the summer season comes. He has been running this venture for the last two years without taking permission from either GHMC or any related authorities,” said inspector V. Umender. Police found flammable objects including batteries, heaps of dry grass, plastic sheets, and a gas cylinder stored in the shed.
“The room did not have proper ventilation; it was not in a condition for humans to sleep or stay for many hours together. But the owner compelled the workers to stay there at night,” said another investigation official.
"We have booked a case against him for culpable homicide because the preliminary investigation shows that he deliberately put the workers in the worst accommodation without providing any safety mechanism," said the officer.
