First responders take charge as emergency response remains slack
It was a replay of what happened after the blaze near Gulzar Houz in Hyderabad where good Samaritans ferried the victims out of the building into waiting stretchers. The survival rate in both the cases was low. While 17 persons died in the blaze near Gulzar Houz, 15 persons died in the blast on Monday.
Sigachi Industries, whose microcrystalline cellulose manufacturing unit blew up, said in its stock market filing: 'The company's occupational health and safety management system has received ISO 45001:2018 certification.' But on Monday morning, the workers were left to their own devices. The green board requirement for hazardous waste display was blank when the Fire Department and rescue workers reached the site of explosion leaving them clueless about what they are handling.
The slow-paced rescue effort and absence of information is linked to risk perception and value of human life, says an expert. 'There is a systemic reason and a deep-rooted problem. We have low value for human life and low cost of life. By low cost of life, I mean the amount of compensation that will be paid out. In the US, the value of life is not high but the cost of life is high. If there is an accident the payout will be huge. The result is that the standards of safety are high,' says Sagar Dhara, an environment engineer who specialises in risk analysis, putting things in perspective.
'Safety management in Indian industry and safety regulation by government regulators is tardy. Both underestimate the probability of toxic releases, fires and explosions and risk mitigation does not get the attention it deserves,' says Mr. Dhara.
'We have seen many fire accidents right from Deccan Mall, Swapanlok Complex, Gulzar Houz and now yet another today near Hyderabad. It's a wake-up call for industry and regulators. Both industries and government bodies must revisit and reinforce zoning laws, permit conditions, and safety compliance frameworks — especially in fast-growing clusters like Pashamylaram,' says S.P. Anchuri, a structural engineer reacting to the accident on Monday where the collapsed building led to high death toll.
'I am not sure if the response was appropriate, given that not much info is available even after hours of the accident. However, this chemical industrial estate has been witnessing accidents regularly. In that sense, I don't think preparation was on a par to prevent and respond,' says environment activist Donthi Narasimha Reddy, flagging the pharma unit's preparedness for an accident of this scale.
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'The funds of the Provisional Government were banked with this bank,' Ayer wrote. It accepted donations 'in cash as well as in kind' from traders, shopkeepers, and plantation workers. These resources funded soldier pay, procurement, propaganda, and relief efforts. Also Read: UPI and beyond: The great Indian banking leap The bank even issued its own currency, denominated in rupees, which circulated in INA-controlled territories, a symbolic assertion of monetary sovereignty even if it carried no value in British himself served as chairman. 'The National Bank of Azad Hind was established in Rangoon in April 1944. I know a man called Dina Nath. He was one of the Directors of the Bank. I was the Chairman of the Bank,' he institution's life was brief. It closed by the end of World War II or precisely after the INA's retreat and the fall of Rangoon. But decades later, it resurfaced in an unexpected way. Following the Modi government's decision in 2016 to declassify files related to Bose, the finance ministry began receiving unusual petitions. Several borrowers wrote offering to repay their loans using Azad Hind Bank currency notes, some promising the bearer sums as high as ₹1 lakh. 'We have received representations from some individuals who want the currency issued by Azad Hind Bank or similar variants to be recognised as legal tender,' a government official told ET at the Reserve Bank of India, citing Section 22 of the RBI Act, 1934, rejected the requests, saying it had no record of such an entity and that only the RBI has the sole authority to issue banknotes. Some petitioners pushed back, arguing the RBI 'itself was formed by the British' and that the government should take a fresh Ayer's view, the bank was never merely a repository of funds for Bose: Perhaps it was a pledge of a nation to free itself, having 'our own currency and our own bank' alongside an army and a government.
