Delhi Building Fire Tragedy Result Of Govt Authorities’ Criminal Negligence: Trade Unions

A pan India association of trade unions on Saturday held the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) government in Delhi and the BJP-ruled civic bodies responsible for the death of at least 27 persons in an incident of fire that ripped through a four-storey building in one of the congested industrial areas of the national capital a day ago.

As the search and rescue operations continued at the building located in the outer Delhi’s Mundka area, police suspected that the death toll could further go up with at least 29 people were still missing, officials told media persons.

As many as 200 people were reportedly present in the building when the fire broke out last Friday. While many of them which included women jumped off the building to save themselves from the razing fire, some came down through movable wooden stairs arranged by the locals and other slid down though ropes.

At least 12 persons sustained injuries, many of them were undergoing treatment at nearby hopsitals.

It took about six hours and over 120 firefighters and 30 fire tenders to douse off the massive blaze believed to have had started from the first floor of the building.

“The fire was a result of the criminal negligence of the Delhi government’s Labour Department and the BJP-run municipal corporations,” the Left-backed All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) charged in a statement citing a report of its fact-finding team which visited the building.

While the authorities probing into the incident suspected that the construction of the building was illegals, the fire department officials said the building neither had any firefighting systems in place nor any alternative escape route.

The fire quickly engulfed the building and killed many of those present there because of the highly combustible materials kept there, they said.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-leninist), or in short CPI (ML) blamed the officials of the Fire department, Delhi municipal corporations and other concerned departments, saying the incident could never have had taken place had they had fulfilled their responsibility and carried out a safety audit of the building

“The building was being used as a unit to assemble CCTVs and routers as well as for storing them. In complete violation of various labour laws and factory safety regulations there was only one entry and exit point in the whole four storey building,” the CPI (ML) said citing the report of the AICCTU’s fact finding team.

The whole building didn’t have any fire extinguishers or smoke alarms to issue a fire warning, they also said

This was not the first instance of fire in a factory in Delhi. In the recent past, incidents of fire breaking out in the industrial units in Bawana, Narela, Jhilmil and other areas had taken place.

“All the above incidents including the one which has taken place in Mundka now have been occurred because the government allowed factory owners to wilfully violate labour laws and play with the lives of workers,” the CPI (ML) Delhi State Committee said and demanded that all the officials who gave clean chit to the factory must be punished.

Adequate compensation must also be provided to the kin of the victims and they steps should also be taken for their rehabilitation, they also sought

“A safety audit pf all industrial units in Delhi must also be conducted,” the Left party added.

The BJP, which rules the three municipal corporations in Delhi and sits in opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly with Arvind Kejriwal led party in power in Delhi, demanded a high-level inquiry into the Mundka fire tragedy and an increase in the compensation to the families of the victims.

The opposition Congress also demanded that a probe be conducted into the incident. It also demanded that the AAP government pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the kin of those killed in the incident and Rs 5 lakh to those injured.

Earlier in the Day, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal visited the site and announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for those injured in the incident. He also told the media persons that a magisterial probe into the incident had been ordered.