Two factories gutted in two separate fire incidents in Ambala

Two factories were gutted in two separate fire incidents at Shahazadpur and Saha blocks in Ambala on Sunday night, said police.

In the first incident, the fire broke out in a fabric factory located at the Saha block of the district. The Saha block police station in-charge, Chander Bhan, said around six fire tenders were pressed into service to successfully douse flames in the factory at 6am on Monday. “No loss of life or injury was reported here, but the cause of the fire has been established,” he said, adding that the incident took place due to short-circuiting in the factory power unit.

In the second incident, a chemical factory in Jatwar village of Shahazadpur area caught fire amid rainfall and thunderstorm. The factory, which comes under the limits of the Panjokhara police station and is spread across one acre, caught fire around 10pm on Sunday. Police station in-charge Harbhajan Singh said that more than five fire tenders reached the spot to douse the fire and the operations ended late night.

“The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained,” he said, adding that some of the locals claimed bad weather and lightening to be the reason behind the incident.

Singh said that the police are investigating the case along with the fire NOC and added that no loss of life or injury in the incident was reported as the factory was closed amid the lockdown.

Meanwhile, some locals claimed that the factory was functional and producing sanitizers amid the lockdown. On this, area sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Aditi said that officials were sent at the spot late night to verify the claim, but found nothing related to production of sanitizers. As per the initial findings, the claims made by the locals were found to be false, said the SDM.