Fire in blanket factory reduces goods worth crores to ashes

A major fire broke out at Kochar Sung Up Acrylic (blanket factory), Gohalwar, here on Saturday night. Two units, knitting and carpeting, of the factory were reduced to ashes in fire causing a loss of crores of rupees. However, there was no loss of life. A short-circuit is said to be the cause of the fire.

Around 2,000 workers are employed at the factory, but due to the Dasehra festival, there was no worker in the factory otherwise the fire would have claimed many precious lives.

The fire was so big that 15 fire tenders, called in from Tarn Taran, Patti, Amritsar, Kapurthla, Sultanpur Lodhi, Jandiala Guru, Gurdaspur and others places, were pressed into service to douse the fire. The fire started at about 7.30 pm and could be brought under control at 7 am on Sunday. Inspector Harjinder Singh, SHO, Tarn Taran (City), said on being informed about the fire incident, a police team reached the spot and fire tenders were called from fire stations based in some other district. He said the rescue operation was carried out the whole night and the fire could be controlled early in the morning.

Surinder Singh Dhillon, Fire Officer, Tarn Taran, said the firefighting system of the factory was of no help as the water motor failed to start and the underground fire pipes too were not functional. There was no water stock in the factory complex. He said the fire tenders had to go to nearby industrial units to fetch water to control the fire. Workers of the factory said the knitting and carpeting units have totally been reduced to ashes. The sheds of the factory have been collapsed. The SHO said the police team reached the spot as soon as the news of the fire was received by it. The factory had also suffered a huge loss due to fire about eight years ago.