Lack of safety measures add fuel to fire

Lack of safety measures is a threat to the scrapyard businesses and livelihood of hundreds of workers.

“I believe the damages could have been mitigated had there been a fire control post nearby and all scrap dealers wouldn’t mind pooling in money to maintain the security post’’, says Mazhar Hussain, the owner of one of the largest garages with 300 scrap vehicles. He had 20 vehicles for repair, which went up in flames.

“I lost all my savings in the few hours of the fire on Thursday. This is an irrevocable loss on top of the pandemic blow that made many of us hapless. But I don’t lose hope on Almighty’’, he said in a bid to hold his tears.

Thousands of cars were charred beyond recognition in the massive fire last week. Many among them were kept for repair, but the fire left just charred frames. The losses of the scrap owners are yet to be ascertained.

The reluctance of insurance companies to insure the premises of scrapyard is another challenge for the businesses.

“The issue of getting reinsurance is dissuading these insurance firms from extending coverage to these scrap yards and a high-level intervention is needed in this issue’’, Hussain said.

An insurance expert said many insurance companies are unwilling to extend insurance protection for manifold reasons.

Hussain admitted that he has not seen a fire or any major incident in his life here. “In my thirty-plus years in Wadi Kabir, I have not seen such major damage, the loss due to which is beyond imagination. All my investment is here, lying in a pile of ashes, ribbed and mangled pieces of metals and these skeleton pieces of vehicles.”