HOSHIARPUR FACTORY GUTTED, NO CASUALTY

HOSHIARPUR :A rosin and turpentine factory on the Chintpurni road near here was gutted on Saturday.

Rosin, also called colophony, is a solid form of resin obtained from pine trees and some other plants, mostly conifers, and produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporise the volatile liquid terpene components.

Fire broke out around 2pm but till the time of filing of the report, fire-fighting operations were still on.

No casualty was, however, reported as all workers managed to escape in time. Fire fighters struggled to douse the flames through tin sheds.

People having their establishments in the vicinity were in panic lest the flames engulf their units. A similar fire incident had taken place in another rosin factory in the area last year in which an employee was burnt to death.

Police and administration officials reached the site and inquired if the factory was equipped with any internal safety mechanism.

People in the area have been demanding shifting of rosin factories as they store highly combustible material, but factory owners claim that they had established the units when there was no residential tenements around.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Owner Manish Maheshwari said the entire factory was gutted and suffered 100% loss.

FIRE BROKE OUT AROUND 2PM, HOWEVER NO CASUALTY WAS, REPORTED AS ALL WORKERS MANAGED TO ESCAPE