11 killed in Telangana firecracker unit blaze
Hyderabad, July 4: Eleven people were killed when a fire broke out in a firecracker manufacturing unit-cum-warehouse in Telangana's Warangal Rural district on Wednesday, police said.
Five others were injured in the incident that occurred in the Bhadrakali firecracker unit in Koti Lingala, near Warangal town.
Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari told reporters at the site that four fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames that broke out around noon.
The impact of the series of blasts was such that the entire unit was razed to the ground and nearby houses were also damaged. The bodies were charred beyond recognition.
The blasts triggered panic among residents, who ran for safety. Senior officials of the district administration rushed to the spot and launched rescue and relief operations.
Warangal Rural District Collector M. Haritha said they were trying to find as to how many workers were present in the unit at the time of the blaze.
People in the area said 25 to 30 people were employed in the unit and at the time of the fire and at least 15 to 20 were inside at the time of the fire. Majority of the workers were said to be women.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.
Haritha, who is supervising the rescue and relief operations, said the Revenue Department officials would conduct a probe.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock over the loss of lives. He announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia each for the families of the deceased.
He said the government would bear the expenses for the treatment of the injured.
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India to get first national security semiconductor fabrication plant
Wilmington (PTI): Under a transformative collaboration with the US, India will get a national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will produce chips for use in military hardware and next-generation telecommunications.
The India-US joint project was announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Wilmington on Saturday.
A joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks said the two leaders "hailed" the semiconductor project as a "watershed arrangement".
It will be the first ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership.
It is the first time ever the US military has agreed to do a partnership for these highly-value technologies with India and it is a watershed moment as it is as significant as the civil nuclear deal, people familiar with the matter said.
"President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications, and green energy applications," the fact sheet noted.
It said the "fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India semiconductor mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force."
The Fab becomes not only India’s first, but one of the world's first multi-material fabs for national security, the people cited above said.
The fact sheet said Modi and Biden praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through GlobalFoundries' (GF) creation of the GF Kolkata Power Center in Kolkata.
It said the project will enhance mutually beneficial linkages in research and development in chip manufacturing.
"The leaders welcomed steps our industry is taking to build safe, secure, and resilient supply chains for US, Indian, and international automotive markets, including through Ford Motor Company's submission of a Letter of Intent to utilize its Chennai plant to manufacture for export to global markets," the document said.
It said Modi and Biden commended ongoing efforts to build more expansive cooperation around 5G deployment and next-generation telecommunications.
This includes the US Agency for International Development's plans to expand the Asia Open RAN Academy with an initial USD 7 million investment to grow this workforce training initiative worldwide, including in South Asia with Indian institutions.
