Fire still raging at handloom godown in Telangana

Hyderabad, April 12: A major fire that broke out at a Telangana State Handloom Weavers Cooperative Society (TSCO) godown in Warangal district on Monday night could not be doused completely till Tuesday afternoon. Six fire tenders were battling to extinguish the fire completely at the godown on the outskirts of Dharmaram village in Geesugonda mandal. There were no casualties.

District Fire Officer Bhagwan Reddy said the fire was yet to be completely doused due to the heavy load of combustible material. He, however, said the fire was controlled to the extent that it can't spread to nearby godowns.

He hoped that the fire would be put off by Tuesday evening. The cause of the fire was yet to be established. "The investigations are on to find out the cause of the fire," he said. Cotton bedsheets, school uniforms for government-run educational institutions and other materials were gutted. TSCO officials estimate the loss of property to be around Rs 38 crore.

Officials suspect that fire may have been caused by a burning beedi or cigarette thrown by some worker. Weavers' association leader Venkateshwarlu suspects foul play. He demanded a thorough probe into the incident by scanning the CCTV footage.

He said the owner of the godown had not taken any fire safety measures. The association leader blamed TSCO officials for the huge loss saying for two years they had supplied the material to anyone. The association alleged that the officials did not heed to their repeated requests to provide bedsheets, school uniforms and other material to the needy so that the wavers get some work.