Cotton worth crores gutted in mill

Tribune News Service

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Bathinda, May 5

Cotton bales worth Rs 10 crore were gutted in a devastating fire that broke out at a godown of a cotton spinning mill named Chahal Spintex at Kotshamir village in the district on Tuesday. The cause of the fire could not be ascertained so far.

As per information, the fire broke out and the flames soon engulfed the stock today afternoon. On seeing the fire, workers ran to safety and alerted the fire brigade.

As many as 15 fire trucks from Bathinda, Rama, Lehra Mohabbat thermal plant, Rampura, Gidderbaha,NFL, Bathinda thermal plant were pressed into service.

The fire brigade staff had to struggle for several hours to control the fire. The workers also assisted the firemen in dousing the flames.

Workers had to break the walls of the godown from backside to extinguish the fire and fire bridge was facing the water shortage as there was problem in refilling it. Villagers tried to attach a pipe with the tubewell but due to leakage from various spot, they failed to provide water to the godown building which was far off.

Chahal Spintex, owner, Sukhdev Singh Chahal said the fire broke out today in their godown in which 4,000 cotton bales had been kept. The cotton bales worth Rs 10 crore were burnt in the fire.

He also stated that they had further suffered a loss due to the damage caused to the building.

The actual cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. There was no electrical fitting in the godown, he added.

However, the fire-fighting operation continued till last reports came in.