The Story of Pirangut Fire Accident- Whose Life Is It Anyway
Believe it or not. Some accidents are more important than other accidents. And some lives are more important than other lives. Chances are that conscientious readers will disagree with these statements. I am speaking of the Pirangut fire accident. Let me explain.
On June 7 this year, or just a fortnight ago, not too far in the history as you will appreciate, a fire accident in ‘SVS Aqua Technologies’, a chemical factory at Urawade village, near Pirangut, killed seventeen workers. Fifteen of them were women.
Marathi news channels covered it for a day and forgot about the incident. That was quite unlike the riots in Maruti factory where one manager was killed in the fire. It was also unlike the Pricol incident where a manager was killed by the mob fury. These incidents are etched in the memory of people and journalists still refer to them in their stories. The SVS Aqua Technologies accident is already forgotten.
Maruti and Pricol incidents are stories of violence, both by the managements and the employees. Violence sells! Why doesn’t SVS Aqua Technologies fire accident shock the conscience of people? Seventeen persons died instantly and yet the incident does not shock us? Why? Let us park this question in our mind for the time being.
Ajit Abhyankar who leads trade unions, called up and asked if I would like to join a small group of experts who were going to investigate the SVS Aqua Technologies fire accident. I agreed. We met in Pirangut. For those who are not aware where Pirangut is, it is a small town about 22 Kms away, or a fifty minutes’ drive from Pune.
I joined Dr Nitish Nawsagaray, Professor at ILS Law College, Adv Vishal Jadhav, a well-known advocate practicing Labour Law, Pralhad Malvadkar, Safety expert, and Ms. Roma Makati, Social Activist in the investigation committee. Later Vasant Pawar, a well know labour leader also joined us.
We went to the accident site. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has established an industrial park at Pirangut. A few well-known companies have set up factories. We met a few villagers and some employees of SVS Aqua Technologies. Here are the excerpts. For obvious reasons I am not disclosing the identity. Not even the gender. With unscrupulous employer at work, I cannot risk of exposing them.
“We did not know what raw material was used. It was tagged with code names. The work was strenuous and we often complained to the supervisor about safety, but nobody ever paid attention. There was no safety training. Women workers were paid Rs 7000 pm as wages. (Note: It is less than the prescribed Minimum Wage). Wages were credited to our bank account but no pay slips were given. I can’t say which company paid me my wages. We were not covered under PF or ESIS. There was a major fire accident in October 2017 but fortunately no employee was injured. We were sometimes asked to work extra hours but we were paid single overtime.”
We learn from authentic sources that the factory was registered only in December 2020 although it was in operation for a long time reportedly since 2012. A run of eight years without getting caught! SVS Aqua Technologies at Pirangut employed between 51 to 100 persons. Yet the owners did not register it.
What happens if you do not register the Factory under The Factories Act? You are liable to be imprisoned for two years and fined Rs One Lakh. That’s the law. Working without registration is not an uncommon act. Have you ever heard anybody being jailed?
More interesting is that SVS Aqua Technologies managed to obtain ISO 9001 certification. How does an employer get it without registering factory? Compliance with the regulations, I believe is the basic requirement.
What makes an employer so audacious that he merrily flouts the law of the land? Everybody said, ‘Eventually he will go scot-free’ whenever I mentioned that the owner of SVS Aqua Technologies was presently put behind bars. Such is the confidence of people in the laws and their implementation.
And I am not criticizing BJP Government. Or the Congress Government. Both of them have ‘richly’ contributed to create lawlessness in the country. Disregard for law is not a malaise for which masses are to be entirely held responsible. It begins with the rulers. They have spread the culture of ‘everything can be negotiated.’
How? How do they do it? One of the ways is not taking a wholistic view. It leaves loopholes. Under the name of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ the Government has done away with ‘Inspector Raj.’ Inspections of factories had become harassments. Any factory HR manager will tell you that some of the suggestions or remarks written by the Factories Inspectors were unnecessary if not outright ridiculous. And factory HR managers, in the safety of private discussions, will also tell you how they faced ‘Anil Deshmukh Syndrome.’ The remedy? Abolish inspections. Throw the baby out with the bath water!
No Inspector ever visited SVS Aqua Technologies. How then will anyone know if the laws were getting implemented. That makes the weakest section of the Society, namely workers, contract workers in particular, highly vulnerable. Now, under the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ guidance, inspections take place only when authorized by the Bosses in Mantralaya or in Delhi. That too selectively. With prior notice, so that the employer has time to cover up or set house in order to the extent possible. Chalo, even that is not too bad. But the Government overlooked two factors.
First, the Government was introducing a presumptive stance, albeit half cooked, towards statutory compliance. Employers were supposed to be law abiding corporate citizens. Governments ought to presume good behaviour on their part, and not think of them as ‘guilty unless proved otherwise’! Such presumption is the order of the day.
Japanese brought it in the quality assurance aspect. They called it self-certification. It worked because if certification is false, the supplier loses both – business with the customer, and credibility in general. And on top of that he pays a huge contractual penalty. That is a big punishment. Nobody takes such a risk.
While abolishing inspection and presuming compliance with laws of the land, the Government has failed to increase penalty to the deterrent level. Employers rarely get jailed, if at all. And payment of Rupees One Lakh as a fine is affordable even to a ‘paan-wala’ today; it simply does not have any deterrence. Imagine – your negligence kills seventeen ladies and you pay a fine of Rs One Lakh. Is that any justice?
You may argue that the owner has been booked for ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder.’ Remember that the accused who killed Jessica point blank was acquitted in the first trial. Recently Tarun Tejpal, the Tehelka boss, was also acquitted in the rape case. Both were prima facie ‘open and shut cases’ to a lay person.
Second factor which the Government has overlooked is this terrible culture of ‘everything is negotiable.’ It is prevalent everywhere from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh. But some Indian States are more skilled than others in this negotiation game. There is however, a debate where the ‘bastion’ of skilled negotiators is; some people believe that it is in Delhi while some believe it is in Gujarat, and others believe there are these two bastions, and both exist.
Seventeen lives were lost in a major fatal accident because of greed and criminal behaviour of the owner. What is the prognosis, I asked a friend. He used Gabbar’s lines with some change to reply – “Yeh bhi bach jayega, Ha Ha! Some lives are less important than others.” Ease of Doing Business is making unscrupulous employers like Nikunj Shah so Atmanirbhar! Is that by accident or design?
This video tells the story with additional details
Vivek S Patwardhan
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” **** “Aroehan: Creating Dream Villages in Mokhada by 2025: “No Malnutrition Deaths, No Child ‘Out of School’, Reduction in migration by 50%.”
Dear Vivek,Great article and I would go a step further to say that the authorities deliberately stay away from inspection and enforcement ( on orders or not) to ostensibly promote industrialization. I think in todays context, the real reason for the enactment of laws has been conveniently forgotten- -that of ensuring saftey and of adherence to some norms of civilized working. There is exploitation of one kind by bigger units and in smaller, unregulated units it seems to be becoming Maharashtra Industrial Disasters Corporation( MIDC)
Sad realities.
A really shocking article. It is said that facts are stranger than fiction. The Pirangut accident story written in this blog proves it and any sensible person would get disturbed by reading the same. While exploitation of labour takes place in advanced countries also , the blatant violation of Laws resulting in loss of lives is unpardonable.It is incomprehensible as to how media and press is satisfied with one day disclosure and is silent on the important issues raised in the story. Hope the better sense would prevail nd government would take appropriate action against the guilty.
Thanks for the share and regards.
Your simple narration has moved me a lot.
Ease of business – at what cost ?
You have rightly mentioned – some lives are comparatively less important.
Today in law all deterrence are removed to help the culprits.
If this is the price for making India developed then let us remain under developed for all time to come. We are JAHILS – Gaye Gujre of the world.
This too shall get Scot Free. We have sold our souls, lock stock and barrel.
Shame on us .
We will certainly do something substantial about this .
Big thank YOU Sir.
Himanshu M.Bhatt
Extremely disturbing and also the sad reality ! How does life become so cheap. When professionals learn to “manage” rules this is what happens . “Tum manage Kar Lena ” is often expected of HR .Economy needs to grow and people need to be employed but at what cost . I am sure that some people in the company would have insurance ,hefty salaries. Some lives are more precious than others . We think we are God’s gift to humanity . because we employ people and think we are feeding their families. Business have suffered in the Inspection rule and now we are like teenagers without parental guidance. We have become like pendulums swinging to find balance but the collateral damage is very high
Hard reality.the place is away from city.people staying close by are the labour force who are ready to work at any rate and in any harsh conditions. I don’t think these sad deaths will have any effect on any government agencies who were responsible for over all safety.Factory Malik will utilise all his power to get out jail and even his lawyers will prove him not guilty.people working at grass roots were not safe in licence raj.They are not safe now either.deepest condolences to the relatives of the deceased.When will the nation change? Where is good governance?
Sir you have boldly thrown the system exposed open and naked .hope it’s taken seriously as learnings so such mishaps don’t recur.
Dear VSP, Moved and disturbed by this share. As always, admire your attempt to articulate the core issues without politicising. Your are right. As a society we remain largely insensitive to the real issues, partly due to the manner of how our minds are ‘shaped’ by media besides being caught up in our personal priorities largely selfish. The lack of faith in the system to provide equitable justice sums up the state of real governance that prevails.
Very touching article written by an experienced HR professional makes a deep impact. The point is the governments since 2014 onwards have clearly instructed through circulars that no officer even at the regional office level, would visit any establishment to inspect the record or compliance of law except without written and specific order for the specific establishmentfrom the central office in Delhi(for PF and ESI) or Mumbai(for Factory Act and other Labour Laws)!
When government is out to leave the compliance of labour laws entirely at the discretion of the employers alone, what else can be expected ?
Thank you, Vivek, for another mighty push against the wall of corporate callousness. As long as there are people like you, I have some hope that they will be brought down.
Visty
Thanks Vivek for sharing this fact finding and chilling experience of Pirangut. It is quite a can of worms .
The fact is that Occupational Safety and fatalities are taken very lightly…Media reports sensation/breaking news for a few hours and then moves onto the next item … Management will Offcourse conduct an enquiry and deal with it as any other factory issue like materials shortage etc ,Unions will also take it up and then sign off some MOM and look to the next Agenda , The State Govt would make some announcement and move on…
Would like to see Industry Bodies and Unions at State/National Level raise the antenna on OHS and safety of lives . Please call out the Employers who do not follow basic norms. Am not sure if the Best Employer and related Awards criteria survey the OHS focus and record of the Companies .
On this subject in over 4 decades irrespective of whichever Government…this has been a neglected area.
Look forward to urgent steps in this regard
Dear Mr Patwardhan…was shocked and moved on reading this article…how could this happen in a relatively well developed city and state in today’s age. Whilst regulations and enforcements are important, the larger issue is how do we get employers and managers to respect individuals as fellow human beings and not see them as economic units….how do we create a movement and nurture “respect” as a culture in every organisation. No amount of regulations and enforcement can bring about change unless we start with employers and managers…through Industry associations, associations of Medium and Small Scale Enterprises, CII, HRD network etc and involve the TU leaders in this…this will be long drawn since behaviour takes time to change…but we should make a beginning……
In most instances of this kind the concerned company bribes people at the government level and the authorities turn a blind eye towards any such incident. Only when any important person is involved the incident comes to light and there is some effort to compensate the affected. There is always an unholy nexus between the factory directorate and the organisations flouting the norms. The media also does not want to get involved as there is very little impact on TRP due to these incidents. This is the sad state of affairs in our country and is prevalent in almost all states.God knows when this situation will take the right turn and common people will get the true justice which they deserve….
Ease of negligence and callousness. Ease on conscience.
That’s what we have arrived at. Thanks for sharing this.