PANAJI
The State has recorded 175 industrial accidents with more than 50% resulting from unsafe acts or working conditions over the past five years. These accidents resulted in the deaths of 20 workers and several others sustaining injuries.
In a reply to an unstarred question by MLA Carlos Ferreira, Minister for Factories and Boilers Nilkanth Halarnkar revealed that these incidents occurred across various factory units. It includes nine incidents at Goa Shipyard, two at the Naval Aircraft Yard, five at Nestle India Ltd, four at Cipla units and a maximum of 15 incidents at MRF units, etc.
While the majority of fatal accidents were due to unsafe working conditions, one case in 2022 involved a toxic gas leak from an adjacent factory and another case involved the collapse of a compound wall due to soil erosion at Marine Electricals (India) Ltd in the same year. Investigations are ongoing in seven cases, all of which occurred between April and June this year.
Ironically, only two cases in the last five years have resulted in convictions while eight cases are pending trial before different judicial magistrates. In the remaining cases, either no inquiries or no action was taken against the perpetrators.
Regarding a massive fire at Berger Becker Coating Pvt Ltd in January 2023, which took several days to extinguish, the minister admitted it was due to unsafe conditions with the matter pending before JMFC, Mapusa. The reply also stated that Goa has around 155 industries that store and process hazardous chemicals and substances. However, the government could not provide the last inspection dates for about 10 factories with a few undergoing inspection in 2018, 2019 and 2021, etc.
