The massive fire at Jindal Poly Films Limited near Mundegaon in Nashik's Igatpuri taluka has been brought under control after 56 hours of relentless efforts, but the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation. Now, a thorough investigation has been started by various departments like the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Public Works Department (PWD), the Industrial Safety Department and the Pollution Control Board. The report of this investigation will be submitted to the District Collector soon, but the Industrial Safety Department has issued a ‘Closure’ notice to the company.

Despite previous fire incidents in 2013 and 2023 and regular inspections and a fire audit prepared by the Industrial Safety Department, the recurrence of fire at the company has raised concerns. Records indicate that the company administration ignored errors and failed to comply with instructions issued after these inspections. The current fire incident appears to have occurred due to this non-compliance.

Meanwhile, the fire at the Jindal Polyfilms company near Mundegaon in Igatpuri was brought under control after 56 hours, but its flames are still smouldering. Eight out of 16 projects have been destroyed in the fire, and about 90 per cent of the production has been found in the rubble. The only consolation in this horrific incident is that the authorities have managed to save the highly flammable propane gas tank, which was at a distance of 30 to 60 meters from the fire. If this tank had exploded, it would have had far-reaching consequences for the project and an area of about 15 kilometres. The same questions that have arisen before the Jindal company in the past have been raised again by this incident, and citizens are speculating that the slow reporting by the authorities and the negligence of the company management are the main reasons for the fire.

"Our department had conducted regular inspections of the company. However, the company management has been given notes regarding the errors found in each inspection. A case has been registered in the Nashik court in connection with the fire incident that took place in the year 2023. Now, a thorough investigation into the fire incident will begin in the next two days, and only then will the exact cause come to light," said Anjali Ahir, Joint Director, Industrial Safety Department.