Fire officials said that the fire started from a jeans factory that was being run illegally from the building.
This is not the first instance when people have lost their lives in an illegal factory working from a residential building in East Delhi's Shahdara. The area has over 1,000 such illegal factory units clustered in residential spaces, sources said. Two people were killed in the fire in Kailash Nagar's residential building on Sunday night.
According to officials of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) -- which issues licenses to factories --- most of these units are rented out while owners have not applied for a license in years.
Fire officials said that the fire started from a jeans factory that was being run illegally from the building.
The police said that the third floor of the building that was gutted is a residential unit and is occupied by the owner Kishore Aggarwal (68) and his family. "The factory that was being run had not got any 'No Objection Certificate' from the fire department," a fire official said.
"We can only issue licenses. The inspection of the units or buildings lies with the police and Delhi government's labour department, which has inspectors to visit these places. The system for obtaining a license was made simpler under union government's 'ease of doing business' initiative under which applicants can obtain clearances from other departments even after obtaining the license from MCD," said a senior official, not wishing to be named.
Only last year Shiv Vihar, a colony in northeast Delhi, had come into the limelight for every other household having at least one cancer patient because of illegal jeans dyeing units in the residential area. The chemical used for dyeing jeans fabric had affected the health of residents.
The fire was reported around 11.58 pm and could be controlled only after an hour of struggle around 12.50 am. One person was also injured in the incident and was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. He had sustained burn injuries on the shoulders, officials said. They also said that the building had a godown on the ground floor which had apparels stashed and might have fuelled the fire.
DCP Shahadra, Nupur Prasad said that a case under IPC section 304A has been registered and efforts to identify the reason behind fire are being made.
FATAL ACCIDENTS
April 13 A family of four was charred to death after a fire broke out at their house in northwest Delhi’s Kohat Enclave.
April 9 Four people were killed while four injured in a fire in a shoe factory in outer Delhi’s Sultanpuri area. The factory was located in a residential area.
March 16 One person was killed, six injured in a fire that broke out in a beauty parlour cum mobile recharge shop in north-east Delhi’s Maujpur area
January 19 17 workers were killed in a fire that took place in an illegally functioning unit of fire crackers in Bawana Industrial Area
AFFECTS METRO
Metro train services between Dilshad Garden and Mansarovar Park stations were suspended on Monday for over an hour as a precautionary measure. According to the Delhi Fire Services, a call was received at 1 pm about the blaze and 15 fire tenders that were rushed to the spot contained the blaze within an hour.
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