Fire accident at Covishield maker’s facility: Accident or conspiracy?

It’s known that a fire broke out at the Pune facility of the Serum Institute of India on Thursday. SII has been making the country proud by upping the manufacturing of the coronavirus vaccine, Covishield. As such, a fire breaking out at its facility, resulting in the unfortunate death of five people, has shocked many. 

Netizens and analysts on social media are suspicious that there was sabotage at work. As per them, forces inimical to India walking away with goodwill during the pandemic were behind the so-called accident. Writes ORF Senior Fellow Sushant Sareen, “Last year when companies started moving out of China and India was touted as a possible destination, there was a spate of labour incidents in various companies. Now, when SII is showing India’s prowess in vaccines, a fire breaks out. Coincidence? Only if you believe in fairy tales.” In 2020, there were some minor industrial accidents in the country. 

Ashu Muglikar, a columnist, wants the Police Intelligence Unit to track down what’s the cause of the accident at the SII facility. “This is serious. Add Intelligence Bureau and other agencies too. Need to get the entire serum institute under CRPF cover. Of course, they can be charged for it,” he tweets. 

Meanwhile, Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the SII, said that he wants to reassure all governments and the public that there would be no loss of COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that he had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at the SII.