Mundka fire: Gloom, uncertainty at locality where most victims lived

The factory that was being run illegally from the four-storey building employed several women from the area, located about five kilometres away, and paid them wages of Rs7,000-Rs10,000 a month.

NEW DELHI: A pall of gloom and uncertainty has descended over at least four localities in the Mubarakpur Dabas area of north west Delhi since most of the victims of the fire in a Mundka commercial building lived there.

Forensic experts visit to collect the samples from the four-storey building that caught a massive fire, near Mundka Metro Station, in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI Photo)(Sanjay Sharma)

On Sunday, local residents were seen sitting in groups at Parvesh Nagar, Bhagya Vihar, Jain Colony and Rani Khera -- where many of the 27 people who died in the fire that broke out at a CCTV assembling unit on Friday -- discussing how they were going to ascertain if the members of their family were dead or alive. Since the bodies were charred in the devastating fire, the police have been able to identify only eight of the 27 dead.

The factory that was being run illegally from the four-storey building employed several women from the area, located about five kilometres away, and paid them wages of Rs7,000-Rs10,000 a month.

Most of the residents from the affected families that HT spoke to on Sunday said they don’t know where to go. They said they tried to locate the bodies of their loved ones at the mortuary of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, but they could not do so since the bodies were charred beyond recognition. They added that there was no body from the company who could be contacted for information about their relatives.

Chaman Singh Negi, 50, a resident of Pravesh Nagar’s street number 3, has been looking for his wife Bharti Devi, 45, but has not found her. “Neighbours and relatives come and ask me if I have received any news but I have nothing to tell them. At least four women residing in this street are said to be missing,” he said.

Bhawan Chauhan, resident of the same street, said his wife Geeta Devi was missing. “We have four children who are waiting for her. She used to work in the production team at the company,” he said.

Akbar, 35, who was looking for his wife Musarrat, 33, said that all the women workers used to go together in the bus. “One woman helped the other to get a job, and that’s how many women in the area got employed in the same company. The firm is also closeby and there is a direct bus service from the area, so they chose to work there,” he said.

Akbar said Musarrat’s mother gave her DNA sample on Saturday at the hospital for the recognition of her body. “Till the time results don’t come, there’s hope she is alive,” he said. He had visited Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital and other small local hospitals also to look for his wife.

About 500 metres away, at Bhagya Vihar, lived Geeta, 42, on a second floor rented room, and had recently started working at the company. The house owners, Bhaskar, 22, and his mother have been looking for her. “Her husband passed away a few years ago and she had no children. We used to treat her like family,” said Bhaskar.

From the same area, two others Ranju Devi and Yashoda Devi -- who were among the dead -- have been identified. At least four, however, are still missing.