Nagpur: Properties worth crores were gutted in a massive fire at Hingna MIDC-based GV Saw mills.
The fire, which started shortly before midnight a day before, was doused in the early of hours of Friday after a toil of around six hours by firefighters from city and MIDC.
While the owner of the saw, Ashok Gotmare, claimed that the loss could go up to nearly Rs 6 crore, the fire department has pegged the damage at Rs 1 crore. The reason behind the fire is still unknown. A truck owned by Sanjay Sahu, which was parked inside the premises of the mill, was also damaged in the fire.
Gotmare said his mill had opened a new unit for manufacturing environment-friendly biomass pellets, which is made out of saw dust, wood wool, dried cashew nut covers and pine wood. The product has replaced traditional coal at many places. Haldiram’s are one of the customers whom he supplied the biomass pellets. tnn
“The guards and labourers, who stay inside the premises, spotted the flames first before alerting the fire department,” said Gotmare.
Several expensive equipment, raw material and even electrical fittings were damaged in the fire. The unit had some nominal firefighting provisions which were no match to the flames.
One fire-tender from Narendra nagar, two from Civil Lines and two more from MIDC had to be pressed into service for bringing the flames under control. MIDC police were also alerted. The cops have started a preliminary inquiry into the cause of the fire.