JOIN USProbe into how chemical godown came up in residential area
Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday visited the warehouse of a chemical factory destroyed in a major fire on Tuesday and ordered an inquiry into the accident to ascertain the lapses.
The probe will also find out how officials granted permission to the warehouse in a residential area. The storehouse, belonging to Rekha Chemical Pvt Ltd, was located in Hosaguddadahalli near Bapujinagar, off Mysuru Road, in western Bengaluru. The warehouse caught fire at 10.30 am on Tuesday after static sparks triggered the flames when a highly flammable chemical was getting transferred from one barrel to another with a pipe. The whole area became hot due to the fire, making residents panicky. Firefighters had to work for nearly seven hours to put out the blaze.
Bommai said he had ordered an inquiry to find out how officials gave permission to the warehouse to function in a residential area without taking the consent of the authorities concerned. He also ordered the police to check if similar units are functioning in other areas and take action if they come across any.
BBMP Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad, who also visited the site, vowed to recover the losses to the public properties from the owners of the factory. The civic body will report the losses and damages to private properties to the state government and it should be possible to secure a grant for the losses under the Disaster Management Act.