Factory incident: Eight injured in Layyah boiler blast

Association threatens protests unless factory closed by January 31.

MULTAN:

Eight workers were injured on Saturday when a boiler exploded at a sugar mill in Layyah.

They were taken to a hospital, where doctors treating them said that two of them were in critical condition. They were referred to Nishtar Hospital in Multan.

The explosion on the first floor came in the afternoon. The injured were identified as M Nasir, M Mithu, M Arsalan, M Amin, M Bilal, M Nadeem, M Ismaeel and Tariq Mehmood.

DHQ hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Sadiq Suhrani said that the two men in critical condition and had 95 per cent burns.

SHO Mehar Saeed said the factory was owned by M Shamim, a Lahore resident. He said the police had yet to receive a complaint.



The factory administration refused to comment.

The Civil Society Network Association plans to organise a protest in front of the factory seeking its forced closure.

CSNA President Fareedullah Chaudhry said that the association would wait till January 31 for the government to shut down the factory and start their protest on February 1.

In 1994, the SHO said, a boiler blast at the same factory had left 35 labourers dead and many others injured. He said the cases registered at that time were still pending.

Another case against the factory is being heard at the sessions court. It was filed by a neighbour Faiz Muhammad Bhatti, who said that the factory was pollution the environment. He said the factory, located in the centre of the city, was a threat to more than 30,000 people.

A case had also been filed against the administration of the factory with similar charges at the LHC by Layyah District Pollution Officer Ghulam Abbas. The factory owner was fined Rs100,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2013.