Fire casualties not new in area
NEW DELHI: Over 7,000 factories, godowns and other packing and storage units in Delhi’s Bawana industrial area are a ‘tinderbox’, waiting for disasters to happen, similar to the one on Saturday in which 17 people were charred to death. In 2017, at least one fire was reported every day from the industrial area and fire department’s data shows that the incidents have been increasing each year.
Delhi Fire Services (DFS) statistics show that fire incidents in the industrial area rose by almost 39% in 2017 from 2015. Fire officials said 90% of the factories and other units in the industrial area do not have the mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC) and are running without requisite fire safety arrangements.
Data accessed by Hindustan Times shows that five people were killed over a dozen injured in separate fire i ncidents reported in 2017 in the industrial area, spread over 2,100 acres in outer Delhi.
The fire control room received 439 emergency calls from the industrial area last year, an average of more than one call every day.
In 2016, 343 calls were received, while in 2015, the department received 316 calls related to fire in the industrial area.
On Saturday, two other fire incidents were reported from the area, apart from the one at the plastic factory where firecrackers had been stored.
The first call was made at 4 pm from a factory in Sector-3. Seven fire tenders took around an hour to douse the flames. Nobody was reported hurt. At 7.35pm, while fire officials were busy retrieving bodies from the crackers factory, the control room received another call about a fire in an oil factory. Three fire trucks were dispatched to control the flames before it could spill into another tragedy.
Fire officials said that initial probe into the Saturday’s mishap has revealed that the building did not have the mandatory no-objection certificate on fire safety.
An inspection during the last night’s rescue operation by senior fire officials pointed out serious anomalies in the building’s firefighting system.
“Though number of factories are increasing, no fire safety audit has ever been done in Bawana industrial area. Fire inspections were done in some of the factories and NOCS were issued. But that happened only on the references of the agencies that issue trade licences after receiving fire clearance certificates,” said Atul Garg, chief fire officer.
Fire department statistics show that 277 people were killed and 1,987 other injured in various fire incidents reported across Delhi in 2017. In 2016, 339 deaths and 2,099 injuries were reported.
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