The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Sunday issued a notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary, seeking a report on the Mundka fire incident within two weeks, and decided to send its own team to investigate the site.
The NHRC took suo motu cognisance of the May 13 fire that killed 27 people at a factory that was operating illegally. The NHRC asked the Chief Secretary to inform it about the action taken against the officials responsible and the status of relief and rehabilitation of the victims.
“The commission has observed that going by the contents of media reports, this appears to be the worst case of gross violation of human rights of the victims due to utter apathy and complete dereliction of statutory duties of public servants in the national Capital of Delhi causing loss of valuable lives due to fire,” an NHRC statement said.
The Commission also asked its director-general to immediately send a team for an on-the-spot investigation.
“According to the media reports… the building had no sanctioned plan and the factory was operating without any licence. The fact has reportedly come out in an enquiry conducted by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. There are hundreds of such buildings that are operational from congested quarters with authorities struggling to curb them. There are several areas in Delhi where even fire tenders cannot enter because of rampant unauthorised constructions,” the NHRC said.
