Lal Kuan: 20 yrs on, fire station still a distant dream for locals

New Delhi: Even after twenty years since a massive blaze in a transport company godown storing chemical containers killed as many as 57 people in the overcrowded

New Delhi: Even after twenty years since a massive blaze in a transport company godown storing chemical containers killed as many as 57 people in the overcrowded Lal Kuan’s Gali Mir Jumla in the Walled City, life has not changed much for residents here. Till date, the place does not have a fire station – a long pending demand, much warranted by its clogged, narrow hardware market, rickety buildings brimming with workers and merchandise, and a hanging web of high-tension cables.

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The godown – 1901, Hanuman building, Lal Kuan – now houses Gujrat Machinery, a wholesale kitchen appliances shop. The memories of bodies charred beyond recognition lying scattered on the streets on the afternoon of May 31, 1999 were refreshed by the blaze in a five-storey building at the nearby Ananj Mandi (four kms away) on Sunday morning that left 43 dead.

Mohammad Nafis, a resident and a social worker, who got lucky that May afternoon and had escaped the tragedy barely by a few minutes, said he saw the people, who were sitting by their shops, suddenly go up in flames as a ball of fire from the godown spread across the lane. He had dialed the fire brigade then, which took long to get inside the area. It was of this reason he said that he has since then written to different authorities, including the Delhi government, repeatedly demanding a fire station to be set up within Lal Kuan.

Showing a letter dated January, 1, 2013, in response to his repeated applications by the then Delhi Fire Services (DFS) director, he said the DFS did not find the place that Nafis had proposed “feasible” to house a fire station.

The DFS had said that the nearby fire stations – at Teliwara (SP Marg), Paiwalan (Daryaganj), Rani Jhansi Road, and a fire post at Civic Centre in central Delhi – would be available for fire emergencies.

At present, the proposed piece of land, near the Hauz Qazi police station, houses a three-storey CISF unit of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

“They had told us that there is not enough space inside to place fire-tenders. However, whenever there are festivals, a fire-tender is stationed at the Hauz Qazi Chowk. We had requested that one such fire-tender be stationed all the year round which could help respond to any emergency at the earliest. But even that has not been done so far,” said Nafis.

However, Atul Garg, director, DFS, said, “The government has to allot a suitable piece of land for setting up a fire station. During festivals, a fire tender is stationed for a few hours, but its not feasible to deploy it permanently. Besides, there are at least thee to four fire stations in the vicinity to respond to fire calls.”

Sunday’s incident at Anaj Mandi reminds one of the Lal Kuan tragedy, due to the striking similarities in terms of the neighbourhoods are laid out, the nature of operating units, and the people who died.

Both areas are old settlements, which have typically narrow lanes, not allowing much space for emergency vehicles to enter. Most of the buildings in both neighbourhoods, which were originally residential, have changed to commercial over the years and employ a large number of migrant workforce. Most of these buildings have a large number of people working on each of their three to four floors, which are overstuffed with stock piles of hardware, steel, pipes and plastic, among others, leaving no room for swift movement in case of an emergency.

The tragedy can repeat here at any time, said locals.

Families of victims still await pending compensation

The families of the victims who died two decades ago are yet to get half of the compensation amount – which was levied by the court on chemical traders in the area as penalty – was to be collected and distributed among the families of the deceased.

Kamla Devi, who had lost her 17-year-old son to the blaze while her younger son sustained 40% burns, lives in a one-room accommodation. “At times we don’t have enough to eat. My elder son died. The younger son has burn injuries on his back and hand, and makes little money by working at a garments store. He is on and off work because in the summers, the heat irritates his burns. The remaining (compensation) amount can help us live better,” said Devi, who is now 62-years-old.

Musarat Begum, 50, who was wounded in the fire, is still taking medicines to treat the skin allergy in her legs due to the burn injuries. “I have to use an ointment and visit the doctor every few months to keep the pain due to constant itching away.”

Mohammad Nadir, who lost his elder brother in the fire and is fighting the case for the pending compensation said, most of the victims are so poor, they cannot even afford the commute to the court for the case hearings. “I help some of them who are not from the city get their tickets and other arrangements. The money could help them survive,” he said.