A pall of gloom descended on Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital mortuary where families of victims gathered on Sunday to receive the bodies of their near and dear ones who were charred to death in a blaze at firecracker storage factory in Bawana Industrial area on Saturday.
16-year-old eyewitness Pinku told The Pioneer, “The supervisors and owners used to lock the factory gates from outside, following some stances of theft in the factory in the past. It was only when we saw smoke billowing out from the building and cries of help coming from inside that we raised an alarm and called police.”
He added, “Many lives could have been saved had the main gate of the factory been not locked from outside.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Sunday arrested the building owner, Manoj Jain, who was remanded in police custody for a day.
Out of the 17 people who died in the fire, 14 have been identified. 12 families received bodies on Sunday afternoon. Among the deceased identified, nine are women and five men.
“Those identified include Baby Devi (40), Afshana (35), Sonam (23), Reeta (18), Madeena (55), Rajjo (65), Sukhda (42), Khusna (47), Soni (21), Suraj (20), Rohit (19), and Sanjit (19). Among the deceased is factory supervisor Ajeet Ranjan,” said Madhur Verma, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Delhi Police.
Soni (21) was five-month pregnant. Her mother told The Pioneer, “It was Soni’s first day at work. She lived with her husband in a village in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. It was only two days back when she came to reside with me. They said it was a plastic granule manufacturing unit.”
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She said, “We heard the news of the fire on TV and rushed to the place. My daughter was charred. I identified her through her kurta, her bangles. She was supposed to return home by 7pm. Those two hours of wait were terrible for me and the family.”
Soni’s brother Babu Ram, who had rushed to the factory after hearing about the fire on Saturday night, said, “There was no way anyone could have survived. The main exit was locked. The ones who survived told us that the owners locked the factory on the assumption that thefts happened in the factory.”
Similar stories were shared by mother of 25-year-old Sonam who was set to get married in February.
Sitting outside their one room residence in Metro Vihar phase -1 on Sunday afternoon, Sonam’s mother Neetu held her younger daughter while tears trickled down their cheeks.
Family members and neighbours recalled how Sonam, being the eldest child in the family, took responsibility when her father stopped earning.
Sonam’s aunt Anju told The Pioneer, “Sonam was the eldest among four siblings. She was family oriented, always concerned about the welfare of the family members. Since her mother is unable to take care of the family, Sonam made sure that she managed to attend to work in factory as well as look after the household. She worked at two factories- one in Samaypur Badli, the other in Bawana industrial area. It was only 15 days ago that she started going to the plastic granule factory in Bawana industrial area.”
The Pioneer spoke to the families of Afshana, Sukhda, Khusna and Rohit. All claimed that their family members were tricked into working at the factory. Rohit’s mother, Rameshwari said, “I lost my son, my sister’s son, Suraj and Himanshu. They all were tricked into working in the cracker factory.”Most of the victims hail from Sitapur village or Unnao district.
Family members of the 17 dead are yet to reconcile with the fact the victims were fooled into working in the two-storeyed building without any safety measures. The factory did not have any license, no emergency exit and it was tragedy waiting to happen, they said. The families claimed that the owner had promised a monthly salary of Rs 5,000-6,000 to each worker.
While families started leaving the hospital premises after collecting the mortal remains on Sunday evening, The Pioneer visited the homes of the four victims who lived in the same lane in Metro Vihar phase- 1area in Holambi Kalan of Outer Delhi.
Madeena, 55, who died in the fire, is survived by six children: four daughters and two sons. Madeena’s husband Shamsuddin told The Pioneer, “Madeena worked 12 hours. I got the news of my wife’s death after I heard women crying in the lane.”
Reeta, Baby Devi, Rajjo and Madeena were residing with their families in the lane no-13 of Metro Vihar phase-1, he said.