Following the destructive fire that ravaged the S Alam Refined Sugar Mill's warehouse, burning relentlessly for 67 hours and inflicting considerable damage, the sugar factory remains at a standstill, with production yet to resume.
However, the company officials said they are trying hard to go into production. The price of sugar has increased due to the halt in supply of S Alam sugar in the market.
S Alam Group Human Resource Officer Md Hossain said: “The factory was supposed to start producing sugar from Saturday. Work was underway towards this goal. However, various problems arose while trying to start the factory. Efforts are ongoing to fix these defects. Once everything is okay, we will go into production.”
While inspecting the burnt sugar warehouse on Thursday Fire Service and Civil Defense Director-General Brigadier General Md Main Uddin said: “There were 116,000 tons of unrefined sugar in the warehouse that caught fire. We have been able to save 80% of the sugar.”
He also said: “A five-member committee has been formed by the Fire Service to investigate this incident. This is the first major sugar-related fire incident in Bangladesh. We have lessons to learn from this.”
S Alam Group's General Manager (Admin) Akther Hasan said: “Around 80% of the sugar in the burnt warehouse has been saved. These unrefined sugars will be sent to the lab and BSTI for testing to see if they can be consumed after purification. If they give a positive signal, then these will be purified and released to the market. Otherwise, there will be dumped.”
Chittagong Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Mohammed Fakhruzzaman said: “According to the factory authorities, 10-20% of the sugar on the upper layer may be damaged, but the sugar below is good. To recover it, clearance from the BSTI, Fire Service, and other relevant departments is needed. These departments have formed or are forming their own investigation committees. We are sending letters to each involved ministry or department so that they can start or finish their investigation within the next two to three days. Once the investigation is complete, the factory authorities can start their recovery work.
“If BSTI or the science lab gives clearance—that the sugar can be recovered and used, then we can take advice from the technical committee. Right after the fire incident, a team led by the CMP commissioner, DG of Fire Service, and Additional district magistrate has started working. We hope to receive the report from the investigation committee within a few days and will be able to tell how this accident happened,” he added.
On Monday afternoon, a fire broke out at S Alam Refined Sugar Mill in the Karnaphuli police station area of Chittagong. Factory officials reported that the fire was completely extinguished by Friday, though no specific information has been provided by the Fire Service.
