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8K Bawana factories without MCD permits

A high-powered panel headed by Home Secretary Manoj Parida is expected to soon come out with the inquiry report

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Over 8,000 factory units in northwest Delhi's Bawana Industrial Area, housing 15,500 plots, do not have licences of establishment, which are issued by the civic body, revealed a data compiled by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, following a massive fire killing 17 workers in a firecracker factory on January 20. The data is to be submitted to the Delhi government's Home department, which is preparing a report after the Lieutenant Governor ordered an enquiry into the matter.

A high-powered committee headed by Home Secretary Manoj Parida is expected to soon come out with the enquiry report. Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain is the chairman of DSIIDC.

Waking up to the disaster, the AAP government is now mulling over 'interlinking' the process of seeking and granting approvals with all departments, including the civic body, the Labour Department, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, fire and police. Also, civic bodies have suggested 'routine joint inspection' by different agencies to cover the entire area.

"While most of the factory owners have not sought a licence, some have been rejected by us for not having complete documents. However, the civic body only issues licences for establishing a factory, while working licence is given by city government's Labour Department, which is also the monitoring agency," said a senior Corporation official.

The North MCD has 21,683 licenced factory units under its jurisdiction, of which 12,680 fall in the Narela Zone. The Narela Zone has three industrial areas under it — Bawana, Narela, and Mundka.

However, Bawana is the largest with Narela and Mundka having 3500 and 2000 plots, respectively.

For ease of doing business, however, officials said, the government started giving electricity connections without the applicant having a licence from the MCD on a provisional basis.

From 2009 till date, the civic body has received only around 31, 274 applications seeking a factory licence, the data revealed.

The civic body has rejected 736 applications for licences between 2017 and now. In 2016, it had rejected 1,578 applications for "not having valid documents".

The factory, which caught fire, too, did not have a licence. The 100 square meter plots, developed by the DSIIDC, are covered both from the back and front and hence do not have an emergency fire egress.

Even on Saturday, a garment factory in Karol Bagh caught fire, killing one of its five workers.

In 2015, the AAP government had proposed to make all factories in the industrial area freehold so that ownership can be kept in check. Most of these factories are rented out by the original allottees of the plots, even as it is against DSIIDC rules to lease out plots.

CHECK-POINT

  • A high-powered panel headed by Home Secretary Manoj Parida is expected to soon come out with the inquiry report
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