7 bodies of workers recovered from fire-hit chemical unit in Surat
Surat (PTI): A day after a major fire engulfed a chemical manufacturing facility in Gujarat's Surat city, bodies of seven missing workers were recovered from the premises in the early hours of Thursday, officials said.
Out of the seven persons found dead at the chemical manufacturing unit of Aether Industries Ltd in Sachin industrial area of the city, one was an employee of the company while six others were working on contract, Surat Collector Ayush Oak said.
"During a search operation in the factory premises, officials found bodies of seven workers who went missing after the fire which engulfed the plant on Wednesday," he said.
The deceased have been identified as Divyesh Patel (company employee), Santosh Vishwakarma, Sanat Kumar Mishra, Dharmendra Kumar, Ganesh Prasad, Sunil Kumar and Abhishek Singh.
The collector said 24 people who were injured in the incident are currently receiving treatment in different hospitals.
The fire broke out at the chemical plant at around 2 am on Wednesday following an explosion in a large tank after leakage of inflammable chemicals stored in it, Surat in-charge chief fire officer Basant Pareek earlier said.
As many as 15 fire tenders were engaged in the fire-fighting operation which went on for nine hours to bring the blaze under control.
In a statement dated November 29 and submitted to stock exchanges, the company said, "...we hereby inform that an incident of fire was reported at manufacturing site of the company at Plot No. 8203, GIDC Sachin, Surat, today early morning around 01:50 Hrs."
Injuries to approximately 25 people have been reported, it had said.
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Plea on stray dogs mentioned in SC, CJI says he 'will look into it'
New Delhi (PTI): "I will look into it," Chief Justice of India B R Gavai assured on Wednesday when a plea relating to stray dogs was mentioned for urgent hearing in the Supreme Court.
The plea by the Conference for Human Rights (India) was mentioned before a bench of the chief justice and Justice K Vinod Chandran by a lawyer.
Another bench has already passed an order in relation to stray dogs, the CJI pointed out.
On August 11, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan observed that instances of dog bites had given rise to an "extremely grim" situation and ordered the permanent relocation of all strays in Delhi-NCR "at the earliest".
On Wednesday, the lawyer referred to a May 2024 order passed by a bench led by Justice J K Maheshwari relegating petitions relating to the stray dog issue to respective high courts.
The CJI then assured that he will look into it.
The plea by Conference for Human Rights (India) claims the Animal Birth Control (Dog) Rules, 2001 mandating regular sterilisation and immunisation programmes for stray dogs to curtail their growing population are not being complied with.
In its August 11 ruling, the apex court also said dog shelters will have to be augmented over time and directed Delhi authorities to start with creating shelters of around 5,000 canines within six to eight weeks.
Besides, the bench warned of strict action against an individual or organisation in case of any kind of obstruction in the relocation drive that might also prompt the court to initiate contempt proceedings.
