Two floors destroyed in TIP workshop blaze

Major telephone manufacturer in financial doldrums

HARIPUR:

An alleged short circuit led to a massive fire at the PBC workshop of the cash-strapped Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP), destroying the first and second floors of the facility.

According to the spokesperson of Rescue 1122, two fire brigade vehicles from Haripur, one from Khanpur and two fire brigade vehicles from the Town Municipal Authority (TMA) participated in the firefight which lasted three hours. Two water bowsers and 25 personnel of Rescue 1122 participated in this operation.

Two rescue personnel were slightly injured during the firefight and provided first aid.

Local political activist Imran Alizai said that they were prevented from entering the factory and that they were not informed about the extent of the losses in the fire.

According to earlier information, the upper floor was for the energy meter project while the lower floor had machinery and equipment. It was not known whether it was there at the time of the fire or had been moved.

TIP officials said that it was too early to assess the losses incurred due to the fire.

A large number of people from the area also gathered at the site but were barred from entering the factory.

Downward spiral

Those with the know-how of the department said that from the 1990s to 2002, the TIP was managed by the Ministry of Technology and remained profitable.

After the Ministry of Information Technology took charge, the TIP began to decline and ended in a serious financial crunch.

In June 2021, it was decided to hand over the TIP to the Ministry of Defense Production, which was done in November the same year.

In the nineties, a profitable TIP had around 5,500 employees. However, the decline over the next two decades meant the workforce was down to 250.

A total of 877 contract workers, who had been employed there for over two decades, had to be made permanent.

Only five people were made permanent following an order of the Supreme Court. The remaining 872 people have not been reinstated despite the passage of over a decade.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2023.