CM Failed to Fulfill Promise Made to Sigachi Accident Victims: Harish Rao Alleges

The tragic fire accident at the Sigachi industry, which claimed the lives of 54 innocent workers, has triggered strong criticism over the state government’s response in supporting the affected families. Although Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and ministers Vivek and Damodar Rajanarasimha visited the site immediately after the incident and announced an ex gratia of ₹1 crore for each victim’s family, opposition claims and official written replies in the Assembly have raised doubts over the actual implementation of the promise. Reports indicate that, so far, an average compensation of only ₹45.40 lakh has been disbursed to each family, with allegations that the remaining amount is being withheld.

Further criticism has emerged over claims that compensation figures include workers’ legally entitled PF, ESI and life insurance benefits, rather than being entirely government-provided relief. There are also allegations that medical expenses have been deducted from the compensation and that families of workers whose bodies were not recovered were made to struggle for months to obtain death certificates. Despite clear violations in industrial safety norms such as unauthorized increase in machinery capacity, lack of safety guards, absence of fire NOC and non-functional dust control systems action against the management has been deemed inadequate. In this context, demands are being raised to immediately release the full ₹1 crore compensation to each victim’s family without deductions and to ensure justice for the affected workers.