Kejriwal visits Mundka fire site, orders inquiry
NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday reached the fire incident site near Mundka metro station, and said that the government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
The chief minister also announced a compensation of ₹10 lakhs for the family of the deceased while the injured will be given ₹50,000 as ex-gratia.
He was accompanied by Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and cabinet minister Satyendar Jain. Speaking to reporters, Kejriwal said, “I have ordered a magisterial enquiry on behalf of the Delhi government. Ex-gratia of ₹10 lakh would be given to the family of the deceased ones and ₹50,000 to the injured ones. The two brothers have been arrested. Strict action would be taken against the guilty after the investigation.”
Stating that the bodies of the deceased were not identified yet, the chief minister said that DNA tests would be conducted to ascertain their identities.
“Bodies of the deceased were charred to the extent that many of them have not been identified yet. We have deployed help to identify the missing and the dead. We will conduct the DNA test through the FSL to ascertain identities of the mortal remains,” he said. “We are awaiting the investigation to know if any officer or an agency was responsible for the incident,” Kejriwal said.
A massive fire had broken out on Friday evening that left 27 people dead and 12 injured in the tragic incident.
However, the blaze was brought under control, informed the fire officials.
A day after a massive building fire in outer Delhi’s Mundka claimed 27 lives, frantic relatives were still searching for their loved ones as police said 29 people were unaccounted for.
According to the fire department, the death toll could rise up to 30 as charred remains were found in the building during cooling operations on Saturday morning. Twelve injured were undergoing treatment at a hospital here.
They said the four-storey building, which did not have a fire safety certificate, had a single entry and exit point which could have been the reason for the high number of casualties.
“The building had a single escape route which is why there were so many casualties. Twenty-seven people have died,” Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said.
Officials said there was only one narrow staircase for entry and exit which made escape from the burning building difficult.
Garg said it is suspected that an explosion in an AC may have triggered the fire.
Harish Goel and his brother Varun Goel, owners of a CCTV camera and router manufacturing and assembling company, from whose office the fire is suspected to have started, have been arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Sameer Sharma said.
Garg added it was difficult to ascertain whether the remains found on Saturday morning were of one person or more.
Of the 27 deceased, seven have been identified so far as Tania Bhushan, Mohini Pal, Yashoda Devi, Ranju Devi, Vishal, Drishti and Kailash Jyani, the DCP said.
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal said he was “deeply pained” by the loss of lives in the tragedy, and called for immediate steps to prevent such incidents in the future. He also extended his condolences to the bereaved families.
Distraught relatives of those who have not been found yet thronged the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital on Friday night looking for information about them.
One of them, Ajit Tiwari, said his sister Monika (21) had started working for the company just a month back.
“She received her first salary on Thursday. We got to know about the fire at 5 pm, but had no idea that the blaze occurred at her office building. When she did not return home by 7 pm, we started looking for her,” Tiwari said.
Monika lives with her two brothers and a sister in Delhi’s Agar Nagar. She is from Gonda district in Uttar Pradesh.
Another woman was seen frantically looking for her elder daughter, who also works at the CCTV camera packaging unit.