S Alam Refined Sugar Industries Limited is poised to reopen its Chattogram mill, just five days after a fire ravaged a warehouse containing raw sugar. The incident raised concerns about potential price hikes during Ramadan and the environmental impact on the Karnaphuli River.
According to Mohammad Hossain, the general manager (human resources) at the group, sugar refining at the factory is scheduled to recommence on Saturday. The fire broke out in the S Alam Group crude sugar warehouse around 4 pm on Monday, with fifteen firefighting units managing to control the situation later that night, preventing the flames from reaching the main factory and adjacent warehouses.
Although efforts to completely extinguish the fire in warehouse No. 1 were still ongoing on Friday afternoon, the proximity of the fire to the 11 MW S Alam Power Plant was successfully averted. The sugar mill, reliant on electricity generated by the plant, is now preparing to resume operations.
Company officials revealed that the mill had stored 400,000 tonnes of raw sugar across four warehouses, intended for refinement and sale during Ramadan. Unfortunately, approximately 100,000 tonnes of this stock stored in warehouse No. 1 was destroyed in the fire. Authorities attribute the challenges in extinguishing the fire to the carbon and oxygen content in the raw sugar.
Beyond the immediate impact, the incident has raised environmental concerns. Since Monday afternoon, fish and aquatic life in the Karnaphuli River have surfaced due to diminished dissolved oxygen levels caused by burnt sugar waste entering the water. Experts are calling for measures to prevent further environmental damage.