20 yrs on, fire station still a distant dream for locals
They had told us there is not enough space inside to place firetenders. However, whenever there are festivals, a fire-tender is stationed at the Hauz
Qazi Chowk
MOHAMMAD NAFIS, a resdient
director, he said the DFS did not find the place Nafis had proposed “feasible” to house a fire station.
The DFS had said the nearby fire stations – at Teliwara (SP Marg), Paiwalan (Daryaganj), Rani Jhansi Road, and a fire post at Civic Centre in central Delhi – would be available.
The proposed land, near Hauz Qazi police station, houses a three-storey CISF unit of DMRC.
“They had told us there is not enough space inside to place firetenders. However, whenever there are festivals, a fire-tender is stationed at the Hauz Qazi Chowk. We had requested one such fire-tender be stationed all the year round. But that has not been done so far,” said Nafis.
However, Atul Garg, director, DFS, said, “The government has to allot suitable land for a fire station. During festivals, a fire tender is stationed for some hours, but its not feasible to deploy it permanently. Besides, there are at least 3-4 stations nearby.”
Sunday’s incident bears eery similarities with the Lal Kuan tragedy. Both are old settlements, which have typically narrow lanes, not allowing much space for emergency vehicles to enter. Most buildings, which were originally residential, have changed to commercial over the years and employ many migrant workers, working in large numbers on each of their floors, which are stuffed with stock piles of hardware, steel, pipes and plastic, among others, leaving no room for swift movement in case of an emergency.
FAMILIES AWAIT PENDING COMPENSATION
The families of the victims are yet to get half of the compensation amount – which was levied by the court on chemical traders in the area as penalty – was to be collected and distributed among the families of the deceased.
Kamla Devi, who had lost her 17-year-old son to the blaze while her younger son sustained 40% burns, lives in a one-room accommodation. “At times we don’t have enough to eat. My elder son died. The younger son has burn injuries on his back and hand, and makes little money by working at a garments store. He is on and off work because in the summers, the heat irritates his burns. The remaining amount can help us live better,” said Devi.
NEW DELHI: The F-83 building in Bawana Industrial area Sector 5 is locked. The industrial area near the Delhi-haryana border made headlines in January last year, when 18 factory workers inside the building asphyxiated to death. The building that caught fire was a godown used to store firecrackers.
On January 20, 2018, a fire broke out in the building. The door outside was locked. The workers inside were trapped and suffocated to death even before the fire reached them. Since that week, the building has been sealed. There are advertisements pasted on the gate outside. There is soot on the walls.
The windowpanes are broken. The workers who tried escaping the fire had broken it. In the middle of an industrial area dotted with factories and teeming with activity, this factory today lies abandoned. But everywhere around the building, it is business as usual. All workers and factory supervisors have heard of Sunday’s devastating fire in north Delhi’s Anaj Mandi lane, in which 43 persons died. Most factory workers say there is still danger of another fire here, but they have no options but to continue risking their lives. Almost all factory workers are migrants from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
Raju Chaudhary, 29, who lives in a factory with his wife and four children said, he earns about Rs