Orchid Chemicals' fire victims were insured: K Raghavendra Rao

Chennai: The two executives who died in the fire that broke out at the Alathur plant of Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited on the night of November 3, 2005, are covered under the company's personal accident policy and compensation will be paid to their legal heirs. This was disclosed by K Raghavendra Rao, MD, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited,

Similarly the three injured are also part of the policy and they will be eligible for insurance compensation.

According to Rao, the company covers its employees under insurance policies. "Both the deceased and injured will get the compensation as per the policy coverage and also as per the company's own internal policy for incidents of this nature." However, he declined to mention the amount of compensation or the name of the insurance company with whom the employees have been covered.

The fire occurred at the solvent recovery block of the company's active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) plant. The solvent recovery plant was commissioned only last year.

This is the second fire at Orchid Chemicals' Alathur facility. Some years ago there was a fire resulting in damages to the plant. Fortunately no lives were lost at that time.

According to Rao, the plant and machinery was also covered under an insurance policy. "It is too early to access the damage to the plant. The company has insured the affected plant and investigations by the insurance company to access the damage are underway."