North municipal corp sets up one-man inquiry

THE OPPOSITION AAP LEADERS IN THE CIVIC BODY, HOWEVER, ASKED HOW THE FACTORY WAS RUNNING FOR SO MANY YEARS, AND ON ALL FIVE FLOORS, WITHOUT BEING DETECTED BY THE CORP

NEW DELHI: The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has set up a one-man enquiry to look into the oversights that led to a fivestorey illegal factory operating from Anaj Mandi on Rani Jhansi Road for at least 10 years before it caught fire Sunday, killing 43.

“Additional commissioner Sandip Jacques is conducting an enquiry into the issue. We shall act on each and every query,” the north corporation commissioner, Varsha Joshi, said Monday.

Corp officials and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders here, had admitted on Sunday that the building was “illegal” and “an inspection on the building was done last week itself”.

Joshi said Monday, “A licensing inspector (LI) had visited the building last Friday (December 6) itself, but the upper floors were locked, so a complete audit couldn’t be conducted.”

The opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders in the civic body, however, asked how the factory was running for so many years, and on all five floors, without being detected by the corp.

Meanwhile, standing committee chairman of north corporation, Jai Prakash, said the oneman enquiry would go into the lapses of the Delhi government as well, regarding the illegal activities in the building.

“How did the area discom (power distribution company, BSES) provide two electricity meters of total 50 KW here when it’s just a mixed land-use street that allows only shops and no factories? The discoms are private companies and will provide meters of highest capacity for t heir personal profit, but shouldn’t the Delhi government monitor this?” Prakash asked.

Discom officials, however, said the building -- which had six factory units -- had seven different power connections with as many meters of capacity varying from 5 -28 KW. “These were commercial meters, which are allowed on mixed land-use street, but their use was industrial, which should have been checked by the authorities. It is not our job to check that,” a BSES official said.

He questioned, “If the factory was employing minor labourers, why is it that the area district magistrate or sub-divisional magistrate never conduct a raid here to rescue the minors?”

Meanwhile, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials said on Monday that if the north corporation conducted any inspection at the building on Friday, they should have roped in or at least informed DFS about it. “The audit must have highlighted building flaws, illegalities and lack of safety features, but no one informed us,” a DFS officer said. Its director, Atul Garg, said he was not aware of any inspection.

Joshi, however, said it isn’t a norm with the civic body to involve fire officers when conducting such an exercise. “They could have gone on their own and checked buildings in Anaj Mandi for violations,” she said.