Dera Bassi tragedy: SDM-led team to look for lapses at meat plant today

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, April 24

A team led by Dera Bassi SDM Himanshu Gupta, Deputy Director (Factories) Narinder Pal Sharma, officials of the Labour Department and Punjab Pollution Control Board, and the area SHO will inspect the premises of Federal Agro Industries Private Limited, Behera, on Tuesday to look into lapses and negligence that led to the death of four workers due to asphyxiation on April 21.

“A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident. The team will look into all aspects that led to the accident and submit its report to the Mohali Deputy Commissioner,” said the SDM.

As of now, there has been no word, either from the firm management or administration, on the compensation to the next of kin of those who died. “We will fix responsibility according to the Supreme Court guidelines,” said Gupta.

Janak Thapa (35) and Sridhar Pandey (25), both from Nepal; Kurban Ansari (35) of Rohtas in Bihar; and plumber Manak Singh (25) of Behera died one by one as they got down into the septic tank for cleaning on Friday afternoon. When four workers failed to emerge from the tank, a fifth worker, Ayam Kumar, descended but felt breathlessness and was pulled up.

No safety gear was provided nor was there any supervisor on the spot. It is also a matter of probe whether or not the meat plant had a dedicated ambulance in case of an emergency.

Behera sarpanch Satnam Singh said since most of the workforce was migrant labour, accidents or other such incidents largely went unreported. For the past three days, there has been no protest from workers here.

The labour union appears to be a non-entity at the export-oriented meat processing plant where 1,500 migrant workers slog daily for Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000 per month in unhygienic and dangerous conditions. The meat plant is currently shut and is likely to reopen on April 26.

Unit owner Kaamil Qureshi, alias Bunty Qureshi; general manager PS Hameed and Shahid Hameed were booked at the Dera Bassi police station on April 21. The suspects are on the run. Dera Bassi SHO Jaskanwal Singh Shekhon said: “The police are searching for them. No arrest has been made so far.”

Sources said workers saw Shahid and his uncle running the day-to-day affairs of the firm there till 9.30 pm on the day of the accident, but they were untraceable ever since. The same day, another worker, Ravi Kumar, had died while working in a sewerage system at Jola Kalan in Lalru, around 10 km away.

Will submit report to DC

‘A magisterial probe has been ordered into the incident. The team will look into all aspects that led to the accident and submit its report to Mohali DC.’

— Himanshu Gupta, Dera Bassi SDM