Fire safety consigned to flames

SURAT: Only six textile mills of the total 115 in Pandesara GIDC have fire safety certificate, making them all the more vulnerable as majority of them are operating out of the structures that are as old as 40 years.
Chief fire officer, Surat Municipal Corporation, Basant Parekh said, “At present, only six textile mills have obtained fire safety certification. We have issued notices to 31 of them, but the owners do not care too much about it. In order to run the factory, they need to obtain NoC from factory inspectors.” Fire comes under the purview of factory inspectors’ jurisdiction as per the Factories Act, 1948.

Parekh added, “When the incident of fire occurs, we douse it and rescue people and later issue notices to the factories and mills. Every dyeing and printing mill has high temperature as well as it experiences vibration during processing operation So, the mills are vulnerable to incidents of fire as well as collapse. But we have no powers to force the closure of delinquent units.”

Pandesara GIDC was first in the Diamond City to house textile dyeing and printing mills in the early 1970s, and they were followed by powerloom, weaving, chemical, engineering and other ancillary units. Majority of textile mills in Pandesara GIDC are more than 40 years old and operate out of old structures. Barring a few mill owners, who regularly carry out structural stability of their factories, others are comfortable in carrying out their operations from the same old set-up. This was the reason for the collapse of Shalu Dyeing and Printing Mills recently.

Municipal commissioner M Thennerasan said, “We have formed a committee to coordinate with other departments. The issue of fire safety is on the top of agenda. Factory inspectors should not be giving NoCs to run the unit without verifying fire safety licences from SMC. We are conducting a fire safety survey in the textile mills in Pandesara GIDC.”

Factory inspector R Tarpara said, “The incident of fire and collapse of a portion of Shalu Dyeing and Printing Mills is being investigated.”

South Gujarat Textile Processors Association President Jitu Vakharia said, “We cannot afford to neglect our textile mills. The weight of boilers and stenter machines is more than 10 tonnes and the usage of chemical slowly affects the building structure. We have urged all members to regularly carry out work for structural stability of their mills.”