Another fire in Mundka scrap market

In what is alleged to be an act of arson, a fire broke out in two godowns situated on the West Phirni road in Mundka, West Delhi on Wednesday morning around 4 am. The incident takes place three days after a major fire broke out in the same area on Sunday.

The incident took place in the Mahalakshmi Plastics godown and Yog Plastics godown that were situated next to each other. Both the godowns stored plastic scrap. According to the godown owners, goods worth crores were gutted in the fire that raged for about three hours. It took 25 fire tenders, and around 125 fire fighters to douse the fire. However no casualties were reported.
The guard Makhan Lal, who was on duty at the godown Mahalakshmi Plastics said, “I saw four or five people in a car outside the godown. They threw a bottle which caught fire as it landed. I didn’t try to chase them as I got scared and thought they might be carrying weapons”. The police have neither confirmed nor denied this theory although a senior Police official said he suspected the fire to be the work of miscreants.
However, speaking on condition of anonymity, the proprietor of one of the neighboring godowns said that the fire on was started in order to drive the scrap dealers out of Mundka.
Ever since the Delhi Metro had reached this formerly isolated part of Delhi, property prices had risen. Landowners who would once rent out their land to the scrap dealers now were looking at better deals from builders. The proprietor said that this was also the reason that the previous fire had been started.
Hari, a labourer who works at Yog Plastics said “I was sleeping inside the godown when the fire broke out. I rushed out and called other labourers. We tried to put out the fire but were unable to do so as the fire was too strong and we did not have any way of knowing how to put it out”
Firemen who arrived at the scene said that they used specialised chemicals and brought the fire under control by 7.35 am. However even in the late afternoon they were putting out small fires that were breaking out from under the layer of melted and hardened plastic.
On Sunday, a massive fire ranging for about 15 hours had broken out in Mundka Industrial Area gutting an entire plastic scrap market and causing huge losses. In that incident Delhi Fire Chief, R C Sharma had said that he suspected the fire was a work of sabotage.
(Although this does not seem to be a particularly special story, I think this would be a good starting point to look into the alternate impact of the Delhi Metro)

Fire injures 17 children in West- Delhi slum

The fire broke out at a grocery where a lot of people had gathered to make their purchases.

A fire caused by a leaking LPG cylinder on Tuesday morning injured 29 people including 17 children in the AO block slum in Shalimar Bagh. Doctors say 10 of the victims are in a critical condition.
Police and eyewitnesses say the fire started around 8.30am when the owner of a grocery in the slum, Ram Bachhan was transferring LPG from a large cylinder into smaller ones in order to sell them. This was a time when the slum residents were preparing their morning meal. Eyewitnesses say the gas began to leak while being transferred and caught flame after coming into contact with fire from one of the several chulhas in the vicinity.
The fire spread along the narrow lanes of the slum injuring people, many of whom had come to the grocery to buy supplies. Children were burnt as they played alongside their mothers who themselves suffered burns as they carried out chores outside their homes. A resident of the slum, Ravi’s nephews Neeraj age 3 and Palak age 5 were injured in the inferno. He escaped as the fire did not reach his house. “We were lucky the cylinder did not explode, otherwise the entire slum would have been destroyed.”
Fire engines arrived on the spot soon after, but were unable to reach the congested area. However the residents themselves managed to put out the blaze by 9am.
The injured were rushed to the nearby Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital.
Deputy M S (medical superintendent) of Babu Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hospital Dr. Chanderkant said “We received patients with upwards of 70 % burns. We have transferred the serious cases to Lok Nayak Hospital for specialised care.
Additional MS of Lok Nayak Hospital Dr. JN Sharma said “we have deputed senior specialists to take care of the patients”.
One of those severely burnt was fifteen year old Saurabh who was filling water from a pump outside his home when he was caught in the fire. The evening school student of class 8 suffered burns across his face, back, arms and legs. His parents look on helplessly even as doctors at the Lok Nayak Hospital privately place his chance for survival as slim. Some residents who escaped the blast, only heard of what happened to their family members when they came back from their workplaces or in the case of eight year old Radha when she came back from school. A class two student of Nagar Nigam School in Shalimar Bagh, Radha sat wearing her dark blue school uniform outside her one room home waiting for her parents to return. Her younger sister Priyanka, a kindergarten student in the same school sat beside her.
Radha’s sister 13 year old Arti and her mother Sunaina Devi lay alongside each other, sharing a bed at Bapu Jagjivan Memorial Hospital. Arti was supposed to be at school but stayed at home after complaining of pain having received an injection the day before. Next to Sunaina Devi, lay 7 month old Sarwar who escaped the fire being asleep in the house of a relative at the time.
Sunaina Devi’s husband Purshottam who suffered burns to his legs had been admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital. Sunaina Devi has not heard from him nor has she spoken to her daughters Radha and Priyanka.
Neighbours say with confidence that they will provide food and shelter for the two girls who haven’t eaten since they got back from school. Ram Narayan Chaudhry, a neighbor says “ Itna darre hue hain ki subah se chulha nahi jalaya. ”

( I've been covering a lot of fires in the last week. Probably something to do with all the 40degree heat. One thing is for sure- whenever someone says they wish they covered the crime beat, they probably haven't seen the inside of a burns ward)

Weeks after suicide by principal, another body dug up in compound of West Delhi school

(This is the really lame result of my attempt to do a sensational type story)

In the days leading up to 11 April, children studying in the S V Public School in Baprolla, South West Delhi, played behind brightly coloured doors decorated with cartoon images of Chacha Chaudhry, Micky Mouse and Donald Duck. Little did they know their innocent games were being played over a dead body buried just a meter below their feet.
On April 11 the decomposed body of a 25 year old man was dug up from a shallow grave inside the school compound. The incident took place less than a month after the principal of the school Pankaj Bhardwaj had commited suicide in the school premises.
The body recovered was that of Dinesh, a resident of Raj Nagar in Palam who had gone missing on 20 March. Senior police sources say they believe the principal killed the missing individual and buried his body. Police suspect that he subsequently committed suicide out of guilt.
A local resident of Baprolla, Bimla Devi’s job was to open the gates of the school for the students in the morning and close them after they left. She remembered the principal as a quiet man who kept to himself. She said that Pankaj had asked her son to dig a hole in the school’s small open area on the 17 March. “He said he wanted to bury some cancer medicines that belonged to his father. When I came to the school two days later the pit had been filled up.”
Three days after the hole was found filled up by Bimla Devi, Pankaj was found hanging from a ceiling fan in one of the classrooms. A teacher at the school, Savita Manipandey told Newsline “After his death on 22 March, his family were running the school ”
Bimla Devi’s son, Joginder said that on 11 April, members of Pankaj’s family asked him to dig up the hole. “They said that they wanted to examine the newly filled up area. After I started digging a little bit, I saw a human foot sticking out of the dirt.”
Police sources say the body bore the signs of injuries to the head as well as blunt weapon trauma to the body. Rope marks were found on the neck. Police however are uncertain if the slightly built Pankaj killed Dinesh himself or with other associates. They say an FIR has been registered today against unknown persons. DCP Sharad Aggarwal said Pankaj and Dinesh may have been known to each other as they are residents of the same locality (Palam). However he added that it was too early to say anything as investigations in the case have only just started.
Pankaj Bhardwaj’s family was untraceable.

With VAT hike, Asia's largest dry fruit market begins dry run

Weighing their options: Traders say that by increasing VAT, the government will only encourage tax evasion

Sitting in his room in the centuries-old by-lane of Katra Ishwar Bhawan in Old Delhi’s Khari Baoli, Shyam Bansal constantly looks towards the TV. He flips compulsively between news channels searching as to whether the Delhi Finance minister AK Walia will reduce VAT on dry fruits. Elsewhere in Asia’s largest dry fruits wholesale market, proprietors are hoping for the same.
In the latest Delhi budget announced on 22 March, Finance Minister AK Walia had raised the VAT (value added tax) on dry fruits to 12.5% from the present rate of 5%. “VAT was 4% before January this year. They made it 5%. Raising the rate by 1% was understandable, but a hike of 7.5% is disastrous. Market khatam ho jayega” said Shyam Bansal, the general secretary of the Indo Afghan Chamber of Commerce- a body that represents most of the dry fruit traders of Delhi. “The Government says they want to raise revenues, but by hiking the rates so drastically, they are only going to encourage tax evasion and revenue will fall.”
“We might even have to move to neighbouring areas like Ghaziabad or Noida where the VAT rate is 5%. Ghaziabad kitna time lagta hai jaane mein”, he says darkly.
Other shop owners still hold out hope. Terming the rate hike as “shock therapy” Sandeep Gupta a trader sitting atop sacks of unshelled almond from California, pista from Iran and dates from Pakistan said “I don’t think the government will keep the rates so high, they will bring it down to around seven or eight percent.”
Fearing that the proposed VAT hike would seriously affect the Rs. 1400 Cr imported dry fruits business in Delhi- 70% of the Indian market, the traders held a protest meeting and submitted a proposal to the CM Sheila Dixit asking for a rate reduction.
The protest drew not only the dry fruit traders but also the kirana (grocery) traders of the Khari Baoli who were not directly impacted by the VAT hike. “This market was established as and is famous as a dry fruits market. If the dry fruit trade suffers, so will our kirana business”
Traders at the market complain of the unfortunate timing of the entire episode. The 17 day strike over low wages and poor working conditions by almond shellers in Karawal Nagar in the industrial area of Wazirabad in February this year cost the business several crores. A previous two week strike by workers in December 2009 had paralysed the industry during one of its peak seasons (New Year).
With the government not looking to back down and reduce the tax rate, traders in neighbouring suburbs look forward to receiving business normally headed towards Khari Baoli. One of the bigger wholesale trading markets after Khari Baoli is the Ghaziabad Kirana Mandi. Local traders there believe that such a vast difference in the tax rates between Delhi and UP will encourage the dry fruit market to shift there or at least encourage the traders to open offices here. They do not believe that the Delhi Government will change its mind. A trader Shankar Agarwal says “Most people do not really care where their kaju (cashew) comes from. Vyapari hi bas shor machayenge”
However he adds that the tax would not affect the traders dealing with Indian produced dry fruits like cashews and raisins. According to him, as Delhi does not have a entry tax format as compared to UP which has a Form 38 set up, this means that traders can simply say they deal with a smaller amount of goods than they usually do and avoid tax entirely. The difficulty will be in avoiding tax on dry fruits imported from abroad, where the quantity on which tax will have to be paid will be hard to hide.
The man at the centre of the controversy A.K Walia, said that the VAT hike was inevitable. “The Asim Das Gupta Committee had recommended raising the VAT rate across India to 12.5% in 2005. At that time we were in a good financial position and so we agreed to the traders request and kept the VAT rate at 4% . Because of this concession we lost tax revenue of around Rs. 50 Crore a year. This year we have only Rs. 200 crore and we also have to pay for the Commonwealth games. We have no choice but to raise the rates” he said. Walia added that neighbouring states were complaining that Delhi was already offering many subsidies such as cheaper diesel and LPG which were unnaturally bringing down the prices of dry fruits.
The Finance Minister added that he was not targeting the traders of Khari Baoli. “Taxes have been increased on other items as well. In addition I believe that other states will also have to increase the VAT rates in their states respectively.”
The VAT rate is set to be notified on 1st April. With no relief from the government looking to come through, a combative Shyam Bansal vowed to go to the courts. “We will appeal to the court that this measure is illegal. It encroaches on our constitutional right to livelihood. There should be a level playing field. Either increase the VAT rate on dry fruits across the nation to 12.5 % or bring down the rates in Delhi.”
Only the coming few days will determine whether Delhi’s dry fruit market is headed for a dry run.

(This article was published in the Express Newsline- the city section of the Indian Express)