Fire at illegal garment unit in Gzb, 13 killed Shaheed Nagar a ticking tinderbox
TRAGIC Police arrest two, blaze may have been triggered by shortcircuit, UP CM announces ₹2 lakh compensation
GHAZIABAD: Thirteen people were killed after a suspected short circuit triggered a fire at an illegal garment unit in a residential area of Ghaziabad on Friday.
Two people have been arrested in this connection.
The incident occurred around 4.20 am at the three-storey workshop near Jaypal Chowk in Shaheed Nagar, Sahibabad.
Police said 17 workers were sleeping in the building – three on the first floor and 14 on the second – at the time of the incident. The fire originated on the ground floor, which housed the stitching unit.
While 10 men on the second floor died of asphyxiation, three on the first floor succumbed to burns. Two managed to survive by escaping to the terrace from the second floor, and another two were found by rescuers in an unconscious state. Three of the survivors were rushed to the GTB Hospital in Delhi.
“We heard the screams of workers trapped inside around 4.35 am. As both the floors were engulfed by the fire, we had to break a wall to enter the first floor. But we were too late,” said Guddu, one of the rescuers .
Locals said the fire department was alerted around 5.20am, but ambulances and fire brigades could not manoeuvre the narrow lanes fast enough .
“The road is barely 9-10 metres wide, and all the parked vehicles made it narrower. The fire was probably sparked by a short circuit on the ground floor,” said chief fire officer Akshay Ranjan Sharma.
Police said the plot had been given by its owner, Babu Bhai, to Rizwan Irfan and Najakat Ali – residents of Ram Swarup colony in Shaheed Nagar – on rent.
“Irfan and Ali have been taken into custody. An FIR has been registered against the two,” said Deepak Kumar, senior superintendent of police, Ghaziabad.
Union minister general (retd) VK Singh reached the spot around noon.
The office of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav announced a compensation of ₹ 2 lakh each for the victims’ families. GHAZIABAD: Friday morning’s fire in Sahibabad’s Shaheed Nagar locality is one of the warning signs of a bigger disaster waiting to happen, say activists. According to them, there are over 250 unauthorised workshops still running in the congested bylanes of the locality alone.
On Friday, Ajay Anand, Inspector General of Police, Meerut range said that the administration is answerable for the fire incident which killed 13.
“The administration department is partly responsible as they should have cracked down on such factories sooner. However, we will set up an inquiry and investigate the matter,” said Anand, who also inspected the building which was gutted in the early morning fire.
In 2010, a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Allahabad High Court asking the court to pass orders to the Ghaziabad administration to crackdown on all unauthorised workshops.
In 2015, the Allahabad High Court passed orders to the Ghaziabad administration to form a committee consisting of gazetted officers of 12 different departments. This committee was supposed to identify all unauthorised workshops running in the district.
“Between April 23, 2015 and July 24, 2016, the administration sealed almost 1,000 unauthorised units all over Ghaziabad,” said Rajeev Kumar Sharma, RTI activist.
“However, after factories in Shaheed Nagar that were sealed in August 2015, again became operational by November that year,” said Sharma.
Sharma then filed a contempt application in the court in February 2016 after which the district magistrate (DM) was ordered to answer. However, in July, the district magistrate changed after which the matter was put on the backburner.
Ghaziabad district magistrate Nidhi Kesarwani said that a committee had been constituted to take action against such illegal units in residential areas.
“The committee will conduct a survey of areas where illegal units are being operated after which we will take action,” Kesarwani said.