Narrow lanes, illegal units: It’s a fire bomb ticking away
The lack of fire safety arrangements and presence of highly inflammable materials in these premises make them extremely fireprone.
KK BALLI, president of Ashok Bazar market association
NEW DELHI: With a number of small industrial units operating out of residential buildings with no provisions for fire or structural safety, east Delhi’s Gandhi Nagar, Asia’s biggest readymade garments market, is extremely vulnerable to fires.
On an average, the Geeta Colony fire station receives five emergency calls every day during peak summer. Out of these, usually one to two emergency calls are made from the tightly packed neighbourhoods of Gandhi Nagar, Kailash Nagar, Raghubarpura, Kanti Nagar, Azad Nagar and Ajit Nagar, officials at the fire station said.
Residents and traders estimate that around 30,000 small and big garment factories are operating, both legally and illegally, from these neighbourhoods. Police, however, say they can only take action if they receive complaint from the mon- itoring agencies.
“A majority of these factories are running in rented premises. The lack of fire safety arrangements and presence of highly inflammable materials in these premises make them extremely fire-prone. Electricity, telephone and television cables are all entangled and dangling overhead which ends up short circuiting and triggering fires,” said KK Balli, president of wholesale readymade garments market Ashok Bazar association, Gandhi Nagar market.
Balli said that fire-fighting operations are often delayed in the area due to the congestion in narrow lanes caused by improper parking of vehicles, presence of e-rickshaw and cycle rickshaws and shopkeepers displaying their products outside their shops.
While incidents of fire have been rising, the fire station only has two fire tenders, one “quick reaction van”, and six to seven fire-fighters, who are expected to cater to calls received across an area with a 10km radius between Laxmi Nagar and Shastri Park.
“We have made several requests to the concerned agencies to resolve the menace. No action is being taken against illegal factory owners or shopkeepers who are violating rules and risking lives,” Balli said.
“Whenever there is a sealing drive or action against encroachment, we (Delhi Police) always provide police support to the concerned agencies,” said Nupur Prasad, deputy commissioner of police (Shahdara).