Chanalon factory owner booked

Mohali, September 30

Two women workers, who were injured in the fire at a Shemrock Organics Private Limited in Focal Point, Chanalon, Kurali, today complained that they had not gotten a single penny from the administration.

Kamini (40) and Vibha (24) were discharged from the hospital a day before but are unable to work as they have suffered burns on their hands and other parts of body. “No official from the administration has approached us till now. We were promised financial help but it has not come yet. It will take, at least, a month for us to be able to work,” they said.

Mohali Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain said, “They’re being given ex gratia. It was under process. It was released today.”

Meanwhile, the police booked the factory owner, Gurinder Chawla, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and endangering human lives in the fire incident on September 27.

Ranbir Paswan, a native of Bihar, reported that his wife, Chandini Devi (35), had been doing the job of filling bottles of chemicals at the factory for the past three years. The mother of two children, aged six and eight, has been missing after the fire incident. Paswan feared that his wife had died in the fire.

In his complaint, he stated that his wife had told him that a minor fire incident had taken place in the factory a few days ago. “Despite repeated requests, the owner, Gurinder Chawla, did not make any provision of fire extinguishers. As such, he is responsible for the death of my wife,” he said.

A case under Sections 337, 338 and 304, IPC, was registered yesterday. The police said Chawla had absconded after the incident.