Panic and anxiety gripped the air after four successive blasts at the iron-smelting furnace of a factory at Bicholim rattled houses almost half a kilometre away. While there were no casualties, the explosions instilled fear and insecurity in the minds of residents who raised concerns in the past after witnessing similar explosions of lesser intensity.
In another incident in Salcete, a worker died while on duty at the Global Ispat unit at the Cuncolim Industrial Estate after he sustained penetrative injuries to his throat while working on a moulding machine. The police registered an FIR against the company and booked officials for negligence. Police held that workers were not provided with safety equipment and that the factory did not follow the safety protocols as required under laws. In Cuncolim Industrial Estate, Global Ispat has been in controversy several times with one labourer dying in October 2022 after getting trapped in a machine.
The question we ask here is: Do we need a blast or a casualty to react to violations by industries? Why are industrial accidents becoming so common? The common thread that runs through both incidents is that both companies have not taken enough precautions to ensure safety, and neither have authorities done their job of ensuring units adopt systems and prescribed protocols. Rather, labour safety and welfare have remained a myth that such accidents have repeatedly exposed.
In Bicholim, people have been apprehensive of the pollution caused by the smelting furnace. People in the area have been objecting to such units due to the environmental pollution they cause. In January last year, locals stopped the operations of one unit and asked authorities to act against the unit.
The larger question is about failure to crack down on erring industries, and not setting deterrents. Thousands of labourers are engaged in the industrial sector, both local and migrants and the onus is on the government of the day to ensure that companies put protocols in place and meet safety standards, especially in areas where labourers are at risk of life.
In the 2022 case, a worker got stuck in a machine when others had vacated the unit, indicating that operations were still on. In the current case, the deceased was not adequately protected with safety gear. Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao has been most vocal about violations and pollution at the industrial estate, even to the extent of raising it in the Legislative Assembly on multiple occasions. There have been assurances of visits by the Pollution Control Board and officials of Factories and Boilers, but nothing much has changed over the years.
In Bicholim, although there were no casualties, the impact of the explosions was massive and the fire brigade had to rush to the site to contain the fire. Can anyone fathom the consequences if labourers were inside the unit? And how does the Pollution Control Board give clean chit to such industries, the ones which are hazardous and polluting?
The need is to be sensitive to those working inside these factories and also to the people residing in the vicinity. The four blasts are a wake-up call for authorities to act before a catastrophe strikes. It is unfortunate that those who are holding authority over industries are allowing such instances to pass off despite the imminent danger to life.
