Vijayawada: Anomalies are galore in the factories department. A section of the officers across the state are sending inspection reports without visiting the factories. Even when they use personal vehicles, they are claiming monthly hire charges from the government by arranging false receipts from travel agencies.
Though the AP government has been according top priority to industrial safety by ordering a special drive involving more of inspections on industrial units, the state has been witnessing a series of industrial mishaps claiming several lives. Massive bribe-taking from factories is the name of the game, insiders say.
In a recent case at an oil factory in G. Ragampeta village of Peddapuram mandal in Kakinada district, seven workers were killed in a mishap. It was not having a valid licence for carrying out the manufacturing process in the premises. Such a licence should have been obtained from the inspector of factories.
The factory did not have prior permission in writing to start it. It did not get the plans approved vis-à-vis installation of the oil storage tanks, oil filling machinery and other equipment, from the director of factories. All these were hushed up by the officials tasked with the job of factory inspections.
Worse, despite the filing of a complaint against the factory for violation of safety norms, way back in 2020, no action was initiated against it. There was criminal inaction on the part of the officials, leading to the mishap and loss of precious lives.
Informed sources say that there is a need for the government to closely monitor the inspection of factories by keeping track of relevant information like the time of the inspection, preparation of inspection report, identification of lapses, suggestions to rectify them and a compliance report at regular intervals, to ensure safe functioning of industrial units in the state.
The concerned minister himself did not keep proper track of the situation and, instead, allowed officials to take things easy and perpetrate a corruption raj, the sources aver.
The state government issued an order permitting 14 deputy inspectors of factories and three joint inspectors of factories to hire vehicles with monthly hire charges of Rs 35,000 and Rs 45,000 respectively to visit factories, by covering a distance of 2,500km a month. However, some of them started claiming hire charges even as they used only their personal vehicles. They pay upto Rs 5,000 to the travel agents to get fake receipts. There is a need for a proper investigation to fix the guilty and end such malpractices while ensuring industrial safety, the sources proposed.
A senior official from the factories department said, “Things are going haywire. There is the need for a total overhaul of the department to keep proper check on its functioning to ensure industrial safety in the state.”
