Hyderabad: Workers of biscuit factory that caught fire in Katedan in limbo

While the fire caused a huge loss to the management, the workers on the other hand are in a dilemma over their livelihood.

Hyderabad: Devi and Hansika, the mother-daughter duo from Uttar Pradesh were tense and worried on Friday. A fire that raged through the biscuit factory at Katedan, where they worked, had put a question mark on their livelihood.

Devi, Hansika and several others worked at the biscuit factory which was gutted down by a fire in the early hours of Thursday. While it caused a huge loss to the management, the workers on the other hand are in a dilemma over their livelihood.

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As usual, the women workers came to the company on Friday and returned after finding the gates locked. Many of them after looking at the magnitude of damage due to fire lost hope of the company resuming its operations anytime soon.

“So far, there is no clarity on resumption of work or any alternative. I guess, we have to move on and search for another job,” said Devi, who came from Uttar Pradesh to Hyderabad two months ago.

Manju, a mother of two children aged seven and nine years, worked, said, “my husband stayed back at our native place Allahabad while I came along with my relatives to work here.” She was paid around Rs. 400 a day for packing biscuit packets in cartons. “We now have no work and if the situation continues, we will be in a financial mess,” she said.

The workers are worried about finding work immediately. “Getting alternate job is not an easy task. It could take days or weeks for us to find a job,” said a woman not willing to be quoted.

The management of the company was not available for their comments while a person working at the company told that the owners are in talks with nearby biscuit factories for work for the affected workers.

The Katedan Industrial Area comprising Katedan, Madhuban, Mailardevpally and Jahangirabad has many companies and fire mishaps are common here. In the last one year, close to 25 big and small fire mishaps were reported here.

“After every mishap, there is trauma for the workers. They move around searching for alternate jobs,” said Raju K, a local social worker.