A huge quantity of handloom cloth meant for school uniforms as well as towels, bedsheets and carpets, worth around ₹32 crore were reduced to ashes in a major fire that broke out at a godown of TS Handloom Weavers’ Cooperative Society Limited (TSCO) at Dharmaram village on the outskirts of Warangal city late on Monday evening.
Six fire tenders were pressed into service from different parts of the old undivided Warangal district to douse the flames. The fire-fighting operation continued throughout the night, sources said. Luckily, no one was injured in the fire the exact cause of which could not be determined immediately.
Though it was initially suspected that a short-circuit led to the fire, doubts were expressed over possible sabotage angle as the godown was devoid of electricity connection, sources added.
A large quantity of handloom cloth procured from various handloom weavers’ cooperative societies for supply to different government departments and State-run schools and residential educational institutions was gutted.
The incident laid bare the lack of fire safety measures at the godown to protect the huge stocks of handloom cloth worth crores.
Geesugonda police led by Mamnoor Assistant Commissioner of Police A. Naresh Kumar coordinated with the fire-fighters in dousing the blaze and preventing the flames from spreading to the nearby godowns.
When contacted, Mr. Kumar said, “We are probing all possible angles to determine the exact cause of the fire. We will examine the footage from the CCTV cameras in the immediate vicinity of the adjoining godowns in the industrial zone and also take the help of technical experts to investigate.”
