RAHIM YAR KHAN, Jan 14: Hundreds of cotton bales worth millions of rupees were reduced to ashes in a ginning factory fire on Friday night. The fire engulfed pressed bales lying on the premises of the Aleem Cotton Industry on Mao Mubarak Road, 17 kms, from here. Owner Chaudhry Shafiq said 4,500 of 5500 bales were burnt before the blaze was controlled by fire fighters from Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and Khanpur. As smoke engulfed the entire area, people nearby faced breeding problems.

Wasn’t sure about the cause of the fire, the owner put the loss at Rs 48 million.

The raw and ginned cotton, stocked in the open in scores of ginneries across in south Punjab, are always prone to fire caused by match stick or fireworks. Precious silver fibre is burnt in incidents like this each year but no remedial step has been taken at official and private level.