As factories go quiet, workers head home with hopes to return
NEWDELHI: Since Sunday’s fire in a five-storey illegal factory that killed 43 people in north Delhi’s Anaj Mandi, scores of workers in the area and neighbourhoods have left for their homes. They think that the chances of the manufacturing units opening shop in the immediate future was bleak.
“We are looking to rent a small room elsewhere in the city to keep our sewing machines. We will return to our home in Madhubani and hope to return when things normalise,” said Mohammad Gulfam, who runs a capmanufacturing unit out of a oneroom set on the fifth floor of a building in Anaj Mandi.
Owners of many factories on Tuesday said that the owners of the buildings out of which these units operate have asked them to wrap up and vacate their premises soon.
According to authorities, these factories are operating illegally, putting the safety of hundreds of workers at risk.
When the fatal blaze had occurred on Sunday, factory owners and workers had hoped that the issue would sort itself out in a couple of days and work would resume like before. But three days after the incident, they said work was unlikely to resume soon, if at all it did eventually.
“There is fear that buildings will be sealed by the authorities. So, house owners have asked the factory owners to stop work. Some of them are closing their factories since they cannot afford to pay the rent for the workplace when there is no work,” said Krishan Kumar, the pradhan of the New Anaj Mandi Welfare Association.
Kumar said that the factories would be back in business, but certainly not in the next few days. “It may take a week or a month or even longer since the place is being repeatedly visited by different agencies for inspections,” said Kumar.
On Monday morning, workers had held a brief protest as they were not allowed to visit their factories where they worked and lived, thus depriving them of their belongings. “But in the evening, we were given a brief window to collect our things and leave. The factory owners gave every worker ₹1,000-2,000 and asked them to return homes and not return for at least a month,” said Mohammad Saddam Hussain, a contractual worker at a bag-making unit there.
Many workers left by late night trains on Monday and some others prepared to leave on Tuesday. “I have lost a week’s pay for work that I did earlier this month. I have borrowed money from a friend to return home. Hopefully I will be able to find some work in the farms back home i n Darbhanga,” said Mohammad Talha, a worker.
Talha said that there was no work in factories located in other parts of the central Delhi either.
Another worker who didn’t want to be identified said that he is employed at a bag-manufacturing unit in Karol Bagh, but had been sitting at home since Sunday.
“All factories have temporarily closed. I hope it is not a permanent decision,” said the worker who lives with his wife and children in Anaj Mandi.
Some factory owners and workers remained holed up in their units in Anaj Mandi since Sunday. “It is not safe to go out as the word out there is that we will be caught by the police,” said a factory worker who had not left his workplace since Sunday. At night, someone from his family sneaks out to buy the essentials.
Most buildings in Anaj Mandi had remained closed since Sunday. In a very few buildings which are unlocked, occupants ran helter-skelter on seeing any outsider climb the narrow, steep stairs.
“Peopl e a r e c o ming, ” a woman said in hushed tone while running across to warn others when an HT team walked in. In that building, rooms out of which manufacturing units operated, were found to be either locked from the outside, or occupants were seen packing up. They had hidden their machines under bed sheets and blankets. “I need just a few hours to take away the machines. I am waiting for that opportunity,” said a man who owns the unit.