Heritage dairy unit fire kills 3 in Vizag

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 7. 2013: In yet another industrial accident, three persons were killed when a fire broke out at a dairy plant of Heritage Foods (India) Ltd on Sunday morning. The plant is owned by the family of Telugu Desam chief N.

Chandrababu Naidu.

While Mr Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneswari Devi is vicechairperson and managing director, their son Nara Lokesh is its executive director. The plant is located at Kasimkota mandal near Visakhapatnam.

The incident took place when a refrigeration section at the dairy plant, which was under trial, caught fire due to an electromechanical failure. Three workers employed by a contractor, Thermal Engineers, were working on the refrigeration section when the fire broke out. The three workers died on the spot.

The victims were identified as Dharma Veer, 45, from Bihar, G. Sudhakar 27, and Manoj, 28, both from Hyderabad.

The new refrigeration section was installed oneand-a-half months ago and was yet to be commis

sioned. An oil separator exploded due to reported electro-mechanical failure and the entire refrigeration unit caught fire. The blast occurred an hour after work started in the morning.

Other workers were evacuated from the area immediately, and fire tenders were rushed to the spot to bring the flames under control. “We were shocked when we heard the loud blast. There was utter confusion and chaos for a few minutes. We had to run for safety,” said a woman

employee, who was working in an adjacent section.

Anakapalle rural CI R.

Govinda Rao, who visited the accident site, said a case was booked under Section 174 of the CrPC (death due to accidental fire) against the management following the incident and investigation is on.

Ports and infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who represents Anakapalle in the Assembly, also visited the plant.