A fire broke out in an illegally-run chow mein factory in Myohara village under Kada Dham police station area in Kaushambi on Monday morning. The labourers working inside became trapped, as the factory had been locked from the outside.
Three child labourers were rescued by breaking the window of the illegal factory.
As per reports, Hemant Kesarwani, a resident of Myohara village under Kada Dham police station area had opened an illegal chow mein factory in the village. He had neither taken the mandatory NOC from the food department nor from the fire department to run the factory.
Besides two child labourers from Jharkhand were laboured in the factory.
On seeing smoke coming out of the building, villagers raised an alarm and rushed to the factory but found it locked it from outside.
After alerting the fire station and police, the villagers broke a window of the factory to rescue two minor children and a teenager, all of whom had lost consciousness due to the thick smoke. Meanwhile, two labourers from Jharkhand, Rajan and Chhotu, managed to escape from the factory on their own.
After extinguishing the fire, Vinod Kumar Singh Tomar, in-charge of Saini fire station stated that there was no fire prevention arrangement in the factory and the factory owner had not even taken NOC from the fire department.
SHO of Kada Dham police station, Ashutosh Singh, stated that the fire was caused by a short circuit. He added that the factory owner has not been detained, nor has any case been registered yet, as no formal complaint has been filed by officials from the Food or Fire departments. However, investigations are ongoing, and a case will be registered soon, he assured.
District magistrate Madhusudan Hulgi stated that the case is serious, as the factory was locked from outside, and an investigation report has been sought from the SDM. “In case no NOC was sought from the relevant government departments, strict action will be taken against the factory owner,” he said.
Superintendent of police (SP), Kaushambi Rajesh Kumar stated that locking the factory from the outside while labourers, including children, were inside is highly inappropriate. He added that a detailed report will be submitted to the district magistrate’s office following the investigation, and strict action will be taken against the owner of the illegal factory.
