In a shocking case of gross negligence, a 24-year-old employee of a garment manufacturing unit in Yeshwanthpur died during a mock drill conducted by the fire department on Friday.
Nalina, a labour welfare officer at Bombay Rayon Fashions Limited (BFRL), fell from the third floor after her rope harness snapped. The rope was purchased by the fire department some four years ago and some employees of BFRL had pointed out to firemen prior to the drill that it did not look fit to take the load.
Nevertheless, the fire department went ahead with the live demonstration with untrained employees.
It gets even more ridiculous: the fire department did not have a safety net for the drill. N Shivakumar, inspector general of police, fire & emergency services, confirmed this to DNA.
Nalina was only the second employee to be lowered after her male colleague, Keerthi, descended to the ground, about 50 feet below. There were at least 800 BRFL employees who had gathered for the drill which started around 11.30 am, according to KT Kannan, production manager of Unit 14, BRFL.
Nalina climbed out of the window and was supposed to be lowered using the coir rope. As soon as she was suspended in the air, the rope snapped. The smart guys at the fire department had forgotten that a rope tends to snap because of friction — and they had not installed a pulley to lower the volunteers.
She was rushed to Panacea Hospital in Basaveshwaranagar, where she was declared ‘brought dead’. Four other female employees, who witnessed Nalina’s fatal fall, fainted at the sight of their colleague dying. The police were informed only around 1pm.
Nalina’s body was shifted to MS Ramaiah Medical College and Hospital for a postmortem before being handed over to her grief-stricken father, Ramakrishna Reddy.
As fate would have it, Nalina, who works at BRFL’s Peenya unit, was summoned to the Yeshwantpur office only for the mock drill.
Nalina is a resident of Kodigehalli and belongs to Chettivalahalli near Gowribidanur in Chikkaballapur district.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), HS Revanna, said a case of negligence has been registered in RMC Yard police station based on a complaint lodged by Nalina’s brother CR Harish Kumar. “We have registered a case against the officials of the unit concerned of BRFL and others,” he said.
No case has been made out against any official of the fire department.Revanna said it was BRFL which had requested fire and emergency department to carry out a mock drill involving the employees to teach them how to escape if an accidental fire broke out in the factory premises.
Chief fire officer (CFO), Eerappa, and Regional Fire Officer, Ravi Shankar, told DNA: “We have conducted several demos at various companies, but this kind of tragedy has occurred for the very first time. We have learnt a lesson from this incident, and have decided not to involve employees or citizens actively in future demos, except for giving demo presentations by our own trained men.”
AR Infant, director general of police, fire & emergency services, and BG Chengappa, director, fire services, were both out
of Bangalore, were not taking calls.
However, IGP, fire & emergency services, Shivakumar said, “We are waiting for director general of police, fire & emergency services, Infant, to return to Bangalore. We will form a committee to investigate the incident and suitable action will be taken if anyone is found responsible for this unfortunate incident.’’
Meanwhile, BRFL’s production manager, Kannan, said the mock drill was being carried out on the orders from the company’s head office in Mumbai.
He squarely blamed the fire officials for failing to take safety measures.
“We have decided to file a complaint with RMC Yard police pointing out the negligence of the fire department. But the complaint will be filed through our head office. Out company legal advisor Ravi Naidu will take care of it. I will not comment on the negligence case registered against us,” he said.
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