Fire at M & M plant, no loss of life

Mahindra & Mahindra on Wednesday lost production of about 250 vehicles due to a major fire at its manufacturing facility at Nashik in Maharashtra that has been brought under control.

"The fire has been confined to this specific area.

"There has been no casualty. As a safety measure, the operations of the Plant have been suspended in the first shift. . . The production loss in the first shift is estimated to be around 250 vehicles," M&M said in a filing to the BSE.

The fire was contained to within the logistics area of the Scorpio unit and within the plant premises, M&M said.

The company is currently ascertaining the cause and extent of damage due to this fire that broke out in the storage areas related to manufacturing of Scorpio and Xylo lines at the Nasik Plant 1, it added.

"The Plant assets are adequately covered by insurance.

"The Management expects to restart the Bolero

and Verito lines fully and the Scorpio line partially from the second shift onwards," the company said.

M&M Senior General Manager (Personnel) Udaykumar Vaidya said that spare parts of its vehicles, including of Scorpio, were kept at the affected logistics department, besides some cardboard and plastic material.

Earlier in the morning, Nashik Municipal Corporation Chief Fire Officer Anil Mahajan had told PTI that around 25 fire tenders, both belonging to the local civic body and the company's own firefighting unit, were roped in to douse the flames at the plant.

"A major fire broke out at the logistics department of the company early this morning.

"After receiving a call at 5.45 am, informing us about the incident, fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the fire was soon brought under control," Mahajan said.

M&M claimed that it follows the 'strictest safety protocols and adheres to all safety norms and processes' laid down by the relevant government authorities.