HC asks Delhi govt, police, MCD to inspect shoe factory

The Delhi High Court today asked the Delhi government, police and municipal corporation to inspect the premises of an illegal shoe factory, located in a residential area in Sultanpuri, where a fire left four people, including two minors, dead.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, which initiated the proceedings on its own on basis of news articles, issued notices to the authorities and asked them file their status reports after conducting an inspection.

It also asked the North MCD to ensure medical treatment to the injured and listed the matter for further hearing on April 24.

Four workers, including two minors, had died in the fire at the shoe-manufacturing unit in Delhi's Sultanpuri early morning on April 9.

The Delhi Fire Services had received a call around 6:30 am about the blaze in Rajapuri area of Sultanpuri and over two dozen workers were sleeping in the first and second floors of the three-storey building when the blaze started.

The court said it was concerned with the rights of labours and right to life.

At least 10 fire tenders rushed to the spot, but the narrow alleys posed a great challenge before they could reach the site, police had said.

The fire fighters had struggled for a couple of hours to douse the fire. The factory was running without permission in the residential area, they had said.

Police had taken the injured to a hospital where they were declared dead. The deceased were identified as Razi Mohammad (20), Shan Mohammad(17), Ayub (17) and Mehboob (18). They all belonged to Asmada village in Uttar Pradesh Hardoi district. Ayub and Mehboob were siblings.

The unit was run by a person named Veeresh Gupta, who lived in the same locality. The building was used for manufacturing shoes and housed around 25-30 workers, they had said, adding that a case has been registered.