NDMC conducting inquiry into Anaj Mandi fire case: Municipal Commissioner

An inquiry is being conducted into the Anaj Mandi fire case by civic authorities led by an additional commissioner, a top NDMC official said on Monday.

NDMC Commissioner Varsha Joshi said this in response to a tweet by AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj, who sought to know details of "building byelaws violations".

"MCD Commissioner @suraiya95 should come on record about the building bye laws violations. Politicians can manipulate but official version of North MCD should be heard," the AAP leader tweeted.

In response, Joshi tweeted: "By all means. I am not known to shy away from either the truth, nor of the media. Additional Commissioner Shri Sandip Jacques is conducting an inquiry into the issue. We shall act on each and every finding. No statement is possible before such inquiry".

 

At least 43 people were killed when a massive fire ripped through a four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi's congested Anaj Mandi area on Sunday morning, in the second deadliest blaze in the national capital.

Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Police and fire department officials said many of the fatalities occurred due to suffocation as the people were sleeping when the fire started at around 5 am on the second floor of the building that did not have fire safety clearance and was packed with combustible material like cardboard boxes, plastic sheets and rexine.

The NDMC Commissioner also visited the accident site on Monday. North Delhi Mayor Avtar Singh had visited the factory site on Sunday.

Civic authorities had last week "surveyed" the four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units, where 43 lives were lost in a massive fire on Sunday, but the upper floors were found to be locked due to which the entire structure could not be inspected, official sources had claimed on Sunday.

The building is under Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 which protects unauthorised construction from being sealed.

"The unit would have been closed by authorities if not found to be permissible as a household unit under provisions of the Master Plan of Delhi," the source had said.