Most Khulna jute mills lack fire safety

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KHULNA, Mar 1 (UNB): Most of the private owned jute mills and jute processing centres in Khulna are vulnerable to fire incident as they have no sufficient fire extinguishing tools. In these mills, workers and employees are not given training on how to combat a fire in an emergency. As a result, there is possibility of a big fire incident to occur any moment causing huge damage, according to a survey of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Khulna. After the fire at Tazrin Fashions in Ashulia RMG belt, a decision was taken to assess the risks of fire in the garment factories across the country. Since there is no garment factory in Khulna, the survey was conducted in other types of industrial units. The survey that began on December 3 last year concluded recently. Sources said the survey team visited 25 jute mills and jute processing centres, including eight government-run jute mills. Of these mills, seven state owned mills have all kinds of equipment to tame fire, excepting Doulatpur Jute Mills. But the license of the mill has been cancelled since it remains closed for long. Besides, privately owned jute mills have no water pumps to put out fire. Some mills have fire extinguisher but these are too inadequate to meet the requirement. Fire service inspector Shams Arman who was in charge of conducting the survey said workers of the mills are not at high risk since these mills and jute processing centres are one-storey and have many exits. But since there are exportable jute and jute goods in these mills, they are at high risks. During the inspection, he said it was found that private jute mill 'Shiromony' had no fire hydrant and no training for its workers to fight fire was held. Jute Spinners Mills has no fire extinguishing equipment, Wahab Jute Mills has no fire hydrant while Mohsin Jute Mills has all equipment but arranges no training for workers.