‘Absence’ of safety equipment behind fire in Baddi pharma unit

A massive blaze at Samarth Life Sciences in Manakpur, located in the Baddi industrial area, has been attributed to the lack of safety equipment.

According to a complaint filed with the police, the production officer, Avinash Jha, of the facility stated that the fire was caused due to the absence of proper safety gadgets. He said, “Had these safety measures been in place, the incident could have been prevented and it was the company management's responsibility to provide these.”

Although no lives were lost in the fire, it caused significant damage to the building, essential documents, expensive machinery, equipment, raw material and finished products, resulting in losses worth crores, said the production officer, who demanded action against the company’s management.

Additional Baddi SP Ashok Verma confirmed that Samarth Life Sciences has been booked under Section 287 of the BNS Act for negligent conduct regarding fire or combustible matter, based on Jha's complaint. Jha, who has been working at the facility for three years, described the events leading up to the fire.

The fire took 24 hours to be brought under control, with over eight fire tenders and a team of 24 fire staff involved in the effort. Jha was on the night shift from 5 pm on January 10 to 5 am on January 11, overseeing the injection unit. At 3.40 am, he was alerted by colleagues Gurmail and Rajnish about smoke in the depyrogenation tunnel. Upon inspection, he found excessive smoke and the area was soon engulfed in flames, forcing workers Rajnish, Vikas and Gurmail to evacuate the building through the main gate.

The emergency alarm was activated, following which other workers safely exited the premises. The plant head was immediately notified of the incident and instructed to alert the Fire Department and police. The fire severely damaged all three floors of the unit, leading to a significant financial loss for the company.