A fire broke out at the manufacturing unit of ‘World’s cheapest car’ — Tata Nano owned by Tata Motors in Sanand on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on Thursday.
“The fire broke out in vendor park at one of the suppliers of Tata Nano car Supreme Industries at around 1 pm. The ancillary unit makes rubber mats for the car builders at Tata Motors manufacturing facilities in Sanand,” said an official source, adding that there has been no loss of life, but finished products (rubber mats) and raw materials inside the units were damaged heavily.
According to the source after the two hours hard work put in by the fire fighting staff, they could control the fire. Authorities had to send 12 fire tenders to douse the fire.
Apart from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), fire fighting vehicles of Sanand Municipality and Gujarat State Industries Corporation (GIDC) were used to control the fire.
The official said that prima facie it seemed that the cause of fire might be short circuit due to overheating. However, he admitted that the exact reason for the fire would be known after the detailed investigation.
Meanwhile, an official of the Tata Motors informed on the condition of anonymity that despite the fire in the adjoining venders’ park which is the part of Sanand Plant complex, the plant operation at Tata Nano assembly line didn’t affect.
Built in a record time of 14 months starting November 2008, the integrated facility comprises Tata Motors’ own plant, spread over 1,100 acres including vendors’ park. located 35 km from Gujarat’s commercial capital Ahmedabad, the plant is having capacity to manufacture 2.50 lakh cars per annum. Provision for further capacity expansion has also been incorporated in this location. More than 1,500 people are working at the Tata Nano plant.