Unions seek relief for kin, threaten agitation

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 11

Different labour unions are raking up the matter of death of three labourers in a yarn unit here five days ago. It has been five days since three labourers were charred to death in a blaze at a yarn factory on Rahon Road but no action has been taken in the matter so far.

While the police closed the case by initiating inquest proceeding under Section 174 of the CrPC, the Department of Industries and the Fire Department did not initiate any probe into this matter. Charged up over the lackadaisical attitude of the various departments, labour union leader DP Maur has threatened a stir.

Maur said soon a meeting of various other labour organisations would be called where the matter of death of the three labourers would be discussed. “The authorities should not dare make it an open-and-shut case. We are going to meet the Deputy Commissioner and will demand action against the factory owners who are responsible for the incident. It appears that the government officials are also trying to shield the erring factory owners. It is political pressure or money has changed hands and we would demand a probe into all these aspects.”

Maur said on the day of incident, fire department officers were blaming the factory owners for violating the fire safety norms. “What happened in a matter of four days? Why did the Labour Department or the Department of Factories not initiate a probe? Why did the police close the matter? Justice has eluded them just because the three labourers were poor,” said Maur.

On the other hand, Bhupinder Singh, Assistant Divisional Fire Officer, said since he had the dual charge of Ludhiana and Mohali, he could not probe the case so far. He said he would send a notice to the factory owner and write to the Industries Department to check the irregularities at the factory.

The deceased have been identified as Satish KumarContinued on page 2