Cramped village
HAUZ KHAS Illegal constructions, narrow lanes make the area vulnerable to disasters and rescue tedious
NEW DELHI: Fifteen firemen armed with water hose entered the congested Hauz Khas village area on foot and climbed onto a nearby rooftop to douse the fire that engulfed an apartment on Wednesday morning.
A businessman was killed and his friend, a French national, was injured in the fire.
In Hauz Khas village, a disaster is waiting to happen, said the fire department. “We have the fire tenders, the firefighters, the required equipment to control and douse the fire, but the challenge is to reach the location. The roads are so narrow that each time we receive a call from there, on the spot innovations need to be done to ensure the damage caused is minimal,” fire chief GC Mishra said.
“In this case, the firefighters had to drag the huge water pipes to the area inside, on foot and the climb atop a roof opposite the apartment to douse the fire. A temporary shed was created on the spot, just to operate. The firefighting equipment are bulky and the men need space to operate. A rescue operation becomes difficult when there is no space,” he said.
Mishra explained that with a row of restaurants, galleries and boutiques coming up in the area, it is thronged by visitors on weekends, which makes it vulnerable. The gap between the two buildings is less than 2 metres and the lanes approaching them are just 60 cm wide. Most restaurants in the area do not have a fire clearance.
“The restaurants that have capacity for less than 50 people, do not need a fire clearance. But since many of them have mushroomed in the area, the situation has become dangerous. These restaurants flout rules and during weekends, they create a seating space outside. All of them claim to have bought property under the Lal Dora and take advantage of the loopholes. If a disaster occurs on weekends, it will be difficult for agencies to carry out a rescue operation,” he said.
Lal Dora is exempted from building bylaws. There is no strict regulation on construction in these areas, which leads to haphazard construction.
“Laws have been freely ignored in the ‘development’ of Hauz Khas Village. There has been rampant construction with the connivance of authorities. Commercialisation was allowed only in the main lane but that norm was never followed… A much bigger tragedy could happen in the area,” said Pankaj Sharma, petitioner in the two cases against commercial establishments, especially eateries, in Hauz Khas Village, which don’t have clearances from the Delhi Pollution Control committee and missing fire clearances.
Eateries were forced shut by a National Green Tribunal order in 2013. Most got the pollution committee clearances and reopened within a few days.
The case against establishments without fire clearances is still being heard at the high court.
Sharma says the area where construction — commercial and residential — has come up was a notified forest area.
“These buildings with poor access and rampant construction were never supposed to come up. It was a notified forest area,” he said.
Others in the area also point to the vulnerability of the area.
“The area has become vulnerable to fire hazards, with narrow roads and little space to move. The urban village has now become congested with multi-storey structures everywhere. This raises safety concerns, especially during fire outbreaks,” said Shekhar Jhamb, director of Creativity Art Gallery.
Satish Kumar, RWA president, Green Park, agreed. “Those coming for late night parties illegally park cars, choking the stretch. It is impossible for fire engines to enter.”