Mundka Fire: North Delhi Municipal Corporation Suspends 3 for Laxity in Duty

The Mundka fire claimed at least 27 lives.

Three people have been suspended following the Mundka fire.

(Photo: PTI)

After the massive Mundka fire in the national capital that claimed at least 27 lives, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) suspended three employees for negligence from the Narela zone on Tuesday, 17 May.

The cause of the fire was reported to be a short circuit in the generator on the first floor that led to a blast.

Licensing Inspector Sandeep Kaushik, Section Officer of General Branch SK Sharma, and Section Officer of House Tax Department BR Meena were suspended, an official statement read, news agency PTI reported.

"Prima facie, it appears to be laxity on the part of the officials of general branch, house tax department, and erstwhile building department of the then Najafgarh Zone of unified MCD," the statement read.

More than 80 Units Working Without Proper Licences

The statement added, "To prevent recurrence of such incident, all Deputy Commissioners of Zones and officers of Factory Licensing Department and Health Department have been directed to carry out a detailed survey of unauthorised factory units and restaurants operating in non-conforming areas and without proper FIR/NOC and Health Licence etc."

As per the statement, 44 units were located in Delhi SP-Zone running without a valid health trade licence, while 18 of them did not have a fire no-objection certificate (NOC). Further, 20 units without a fire NOC were also found in Delhi's Rohini zone, and 20 were working in non-conforming areas.

The Site of Fire

The building that caught fire was 11 years old and being used for industrial reasons, while the owner "has paid conversion charges from 2016 to 2018 on basis of self-assessment. No ongoing construction is noticed there. The owner has never applied for sanction of the building plan," NDMC said, according to a PTI report.

They added that the conversion charges of Rs 4 lakh and parking charges of Rs 2.66 lakh, with Rs 93,188 penalty, was paid only between years 2016-2018 for the ground floor.

"Going by the record, no property tax has been paid by the owner/occupier of the premises and notices were issued by the department. Action against the building was taken in 2019," the statement said.

Manish Lakra, the owner of the building, along with the owners of a company in the same multistorey structure – Harish Goel and Varun Goel – were on Tuesday, May 17, sent to one-day police custody by a city court, an official had informed.

(With inputs from PTI.)