Serum Institute To Pay Rs 25 Lakh Compensation To Family Of Each Deceased, Pune Police Crime Branch To Conduct Parallel Investigation Of The Case
Pune, January 21, 2021: Cyrus S Poonawalla, Chairman & Managing Director, Serum Institute of India, said that the company will pay Rs 25 lakh compensation to each of the five deceased families.
The deceased persons have been identified as Rama Shankar Harijan, Bipin Saroj, both residents of Uttar Pradesh, Sushil Kumar Pandey of Bihar, Mahendra Ingle and Pratik Pashte, both residents of Pune. All were contractual labourers who were doing electrical works.
The fire began around 2.45 pm and was finally extinguished at 4.10 pm. The fire reached the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors of an under-construction building near terminal 1 gate. Due to the fire, a swell of smoke spread all around. The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
“Today is an extremely sorrowful day for all of us at Serum Institute of India. Regrettably, there were losses of lives in the fire that broke out in our under installation facility situated at the Special Economic Zone at Manjri. We are deeply saddened and offer our condolences to the families of the departed”, Poonawalla said.
He further said, “We will be offering a compensation of Rs 25 lakhs to each of the families, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone for their concerns and prayers in these distressing times.”
An FIR is being registered at the Hadapsar police station. Commissioner of Police Amitabh Gupta said that the Crime Branch will conduct parallel investigation into the fire incident.
We mourn the unfortunate demise of the 5 people who lost their lives due to fire at @SerumInstIndia . Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.@PuneCityPolice is monitoring the situation & will conduct a thorough screening of the premises once the fire is doused
— CP Pune City Police (@CPPuneCity) January 21, 2021
Anguished by the loss of lives due to an unfortunate fire at the @SerumInstIndia. In this sad hour, my thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 21, 2021
I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia. Thank you very much @PuneCityPolice & Fire Department
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) January 21, 2021
