Rakesh, one of the survivors of the factory collapse in west Delhi’s Moti Nagar, was discharged from Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital on Friday late though he believed he needed treatment for his injured back.
Soon after this, the 38-year-old headed straight to Moti Nagar police station to seek permission to enter his home in the godown of the factory which collapsed. He returned home hoping to salvage some of his belongings, but all he could find were his quilt and cot. The rest had been reduced to rubble.
“I went to the godown and saw everything had broken down. There were only pieces of bricks and some clothes. I found my quilt and cot and came out. There was nothing left,” the victim said.
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The two-storey ceiling fan factory collapsed following a furnace blast in Moti Nagar on Thursday at 8.45 p.m.
He is not a factory worker but used to work and reside in the adjacent scrap godown where the debris from the factory fell. The incident claimed the lives of his two uncles — Munger and Ramphal.
Belonging from Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur, he felt homeless after stepping out of the hospital. “I have been staying at the godown for more than 10 years, he said.
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His relatives told him that “a lot of policemen have been deployed near the factory and they are not letting anyone in”.
He then met an investigator who told him to call in case he is denied entry.
On trying to enter the street, he was stopped by officers on duty but a call helped him through.
Last rites
An acquaintance from the village has given shelter to Rakesh and his relatives till they leave for the village with the bodies for the last rites. A temporary arrangement for 10-odd people has been made in a small room on the first floor in the next street.
Rakesh who did not get time to nurse his injuries, on Saturday afternoon, was trying to arrange an ambulance to take the bodies to the village.
However, to their disappointment, the post-mortem was not conducted on Saturday and they were told to wait another day.
“Doctors left at 1 p.m. on Saturday. We were waiting for hours for the post-mortem. They are saying that they will conduct the post-mortem on January 6 [Sunday],” he said.
Another family waited for the same on Saturday and regretted “coming late”.
“I lost my nephew Sanjay to this incident. He had joined only two months ago and had come to Delhi for the first time. They have asked us to come again on January 6 [Sunday],” said the victim’s uncle, standing outside Moti Nagar police station.
Fire at the same factory
A worker at the ceiling fan factory, on the condition of anonymity, said a fire broke out in the factory a little over a year ago due to leakage in LPG cylinder.
One Upender sustained severe burn injury in the incident. However, the owner paid for his treatment and the matter was never reported to the police.
Three locals acknowledged the incident. When asked about the same, police sources denied knowledge of any such incident and said it has not come up in their investigation.