FACTORIES ARE RUNNING WITHOUT NOC AND PLAYING WITH LIVES OF PEOPLE

ARA (RNI) The factories established in Bhojpur district is playing with dangers and lives of people living nearby. The workers working in these factories can become victims of an accident at any time. The factories have not made any arrangements for fire safety or fire-fighting. Due to the inaction of the Bhojpur district administration and the concerned departments, the factory owners are acting arbitrarily. The rules set by the government are not being followed. The Fire department does not even know as to how many factories are operating in Bhojpur district whereas the no objection certificates (NOC) for fire safety or fire-fighting are given by the department itself and so it can be easily guessed as to how strict security arrangements would have been made.

The NOC for setting up a factory is given by the District Industries Centre (DIC). Even the DIC does not know as to how many factories are being run in Bhojpur district.

There are 46 big factories in Bhojpur district in which 20 or more workers work but in fact more workers work. Likewise there are more than 200 small factories operating in the district where 8 or more workers work but in fact more workers are employed in them. These figures are only on paper though the ground realityis that more workers work in them.

These factories include A N Enterprises, Aluminum Factory, Dharahara, Ara Dairy, IOCL, HPCL Gas Plants Giddha, Remco Industries producing asbestos, Nimi Industries, Bihia, Suman Agrotech, Vishnu Vishal Paper Mill Giddha, S M Industries, Chemkal Plant Giddha, Anushka Enterprises Plastic and others.

Most of factories in Bhojpur district are running without registration. The fire brigade and the factory inspector’s office are not aware of this. The factory owners have not got the registration done by these departments by obtaining the NOC.

In this background the gravity of the situation can be understood. It is almost 50 years old law to get NOC for fire and it is not even possible to complete it. Despite having so many factories, neither the fire brigade has the arrangements to deal with fire nor the entrepreneurs have been trained for this. Water and sewer lines are not laid in most of industrial areas.

In any factory, there should be at least two exit doors to save the workers in emergency circumstances it is even better if there are more exit doors but it is not so. In most of the factories there is only one exit door and there are very few widows for ventilation due to which a fire in the factory can be a serious problem.

The factory management has not made proper arrangements for fire safety. As per the rules, no arrangement for fire extinguishers has been made. One or two fire extinguishers of lesser capacity have been installed but their time has also expired.

Besides, there is not adequate arrangement of water in case of fire. There is no effective water resource near the factory to extinguish the fire. Fire Brigade vehicles can easily reach some factories but it is not possible to reach most of them and an ugly accident can happen at any time.

The fire department has not made any effective arrangements for the rescue in case of an accident at Gidha Industrial Area under Koelwar police station on Ara-Patna main road in Bhojpur district. One will have to arrange vehicle from Ara headquarters itself which may take at least an hour to reach there and in one hour there may be a lot of loss life and property.

Many factories in Bhojpur district are being operated in densely populated areas like Dharahara, Sheesh Mahal Chowk, Ahirpurva and may other populated areas. The street here is quite narrow. It is difficult to go there even on a two wheeler. In this situation it can be understood as to how can a fire brigade reach there. In these places, under special circumstances, it will take a lot of effort to reach the fire department. Even these factories have not taken effective measures for initial prevention. Along with the use of chemicals, may other types of items are used in these factories.

In such a situation, if there is some carelessness, a serious fire can occur. Fire can cause a lot of damage of life and property. Despite this, no action is taken by the fire department and the factory inspector also does not take any action on this.

Ara Sub-Divisional Fire Officer Saroj Khan said that NOC has not been taken by anyone except the IOCL and HPCL gas plants located at Gidha. It will be investigated whether the fire safety and fire-fighting standards are being met by the factories or not and action will be taken against the recalcitrant asper the requirement.