When at least 17 people are killed in a factory inferno, it should be a national tragedy – or at the very least a local one. But no such national or provincial mourning was visible on the part of governments that prefer to turn a blind eye when gross violations of health and safety regulations take place. The latest tragedy is the case of a fire that broke out on Friday in a factory involved in producing chemicals in Karachi's Mehran Town in the Korangi industrial area. What is particularly tragic is that the loss of these lives could have been saved, had rules been followed and had all involved taken responsibility for ensuring these rules were implemented, learning perhaps from the Baldia factory fire of 2012, which claimed hundreds of lives and left behind a long list of lessons, which we appear not to have absorbed. The blaze at the Korangi factory broke out in conditions where there was only one exit, leaving workers with no route to escape; windows and other exits had been barricaded and could not be opened up in time, even as relatives screamed for help outside. There are also reports of the usual delay in fire tenders reaching the scene, although this has been denied by Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab.
The main issue here is why we face one tragedy after another without learning anything. The Baldia fire was a deliberate arson incident. But the lack of safety exits, fire extinguishers, and other protocols at the factory contributed to the scale on which lives were lost. Had the safety measures been put in place this time round, people may not have died as they did on Friday. And, while the Sindh Building Control Authority and the Karachi Development Authority try to hurl blame from one to the other, the factory is said to have been illegally built on a residential plot. The fact is that most of the factories in our industrial areas are devoid of basic facilities for workers. They look like huge blocks of concrete with hardly any ventilation and fire exits. There are no trained personnel who can handle a fire if it breaks out in the premises. There are normally no fire drills to train workers about what to do in case of a fire. Moreover, approach roads to and from many factories are narrow and even ambulances or firefighting vehicles cannot reach in time.
Trying to blame other authorities for action which should be the responsibility of provincial and local governments is a common phenomenon in our country. As usual, the Sindh chief minister has taken notice of the incident and directed the commissioner of Karachi and the labour department to prepare a detailed report. We have seen such reports before, with not much done eventually. If this continues, there will be further tragedies. As things stand at the moment, this seems inevitable. In many factories, multiple members of the same family work – and in the latest fire four members of a family lost their lives. Imagine what the grieved family is going through. No one appears concerned about the loss of human life and what it means for families that lose a wage-earner and a loved one. The lack of adherence to labour laws and safety measures within factories and the failure to follow other regulations regarding where factories can be built is extremely hazardous and has led to disasters before. Indeed, we can see the loss before us and we wonder if a time will come when we are able to look back at the Baldia fire of 2012 or the Mehran Town fire of 2021 and at least be able to say that the lessons from these places have been learnt and we have now committed ourselves to keeping this country's working class a little safer in the places where they are employed, and where they earn their daily living.