NEW DELHI: In the narrow lanes along Rani Jhansi Road at Sadar Bazaar area, several small industrial units operate from buildings like the ill-fated five-storey structure that caught fire on Sunday morning.
The Anaj Mandi tragedy was waiting to happen as locals claimed more than 150 people were present in the crammed premises standing on approximately 300-yard plot.
In fact, North MCD commissioner Varsha Joshi informed, the building was surveyed last week and the procedure for issuance show-cause was underway. But, before that the inferno struck and snuffed out 43 lives.
In line with a Supreme Court order, Joshi said, the civic body is carrying out a sealing drive on such units after issuing them with show-cause notices.
“The process to locate such factories is on. We are to submit a report in the apex court by January 15. So far, we have identified 4,000 units.”
Sunday’s tragedy was a glaring example of administrative failure, public apathy and deteriorating socio-economic conditions, right in the national capital. This is not the first time that an industrial unit was found operating without a valid permit.
Hundreds of such units operate from residential areas in the Walled City area and its vicinity — Sadar Bazaar, Bara Hindu Rao, Modal Basti, Quresh Nagar, Nabi Karim, Paharganj, and Teliwara — where inflammable material such as plastic, chemicals, cloth or fibreboard are stacked in shops and godowns without or with little fire-fighting arrangement to deal with any such tragedy.
Mohammad Shahid, a resident of Bara Hindu Rao, said the Anaj Mandi fire was not a surprise as the area is sitting on a ticking bomb. “In every nook and cranny of the area, illegal industrial units are functioning. A few of them operate in a one room accommodation. Due to poverty, migrant labourers are forced to work in uninhabitable conditions. They work, stay, and cook in the same dingy room with no ventilators or windows,” he said.
A RWA office-bearer in Sadar Bazaar area blamed government agencies including police and fire department for the prevailing chaos in the area.
“Higher authorities are aware of the situation. MCDs, police, and revenue department are hand in glove. Builders are constructing five-six floors in a lane, where even a cycle-rickshaw can’t enter. Discoms and DJB are providing electricity and water connections to these units. Several of them engage child labourers,” he said.
Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg said the matter would be taken up with the government to determine the next course of action. Former councilor Jagdish Mamgain, who had served as a chairman of Works Committee in erstwhile MCD, said guilty officials should also be punished under stringent sections of the law. “As per the SC ruling, all polluting units and hazardous trades shouldn’t function in the city. The MCDs and the government should create industrial hubs on the outskirts to relocate factories.”
