A day after a massive fire destroyed 30 shops at the popular Delhi Haat in south Delhi, Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra on Thursday assured compensation to the affected shopkeepers and said the government will reallocate the shops to them. Mishra's assurance came after concerns were raised over lapses in fire safety measures at the Haat and alleged delayed response by the Delhi Fire Services. He said Delhi Haat will remain closed on Thursday as the Delhi Police has started an investigation into the incident.
"The vendors have been asked to prepare a list of their losses... they will be compensated by the government and the shops will be reallocated," he told PTI Video. Mishra said legal action will be taken against anyone found guilty after the police investigation. Meanwhile, the affected shopkeepers and vendors alleged that fire tenders reached the spot an hour after the incident, causing them huge losses. "Fire tenders came after all the goods in my shop were burnt to ashes," said Manoj Kumar, a cloth seller at Delhi Haat.
Kuldeep Kumar, who runs a chikankari kurta shop in the market, said he was saving money for his sister's wedding next year but lost everything in the fire incident. The shopkeepers also claimed that the shops for which they pay hefty rents were made of plastic and wood. "They gave us shops made of such inflammable material...we had to risk our lives while trying to save the goods in our shops," said another vendor, Mohammed Salauddin.
Salauddin claimed that he suffered a loss of about Rs 3 lakh due to the fire. Some shopkeepers claimed that there were no proper fire safety arrangements in the market. "There are no fire safety measures in the market, like fire extinguishers. There were few customers when the fire broke out. We evacuated the place with the help of the guards...we fled with whatever we could save," said a shopkeeper.
The owner of a Kashmiri shawl shop (where the fire allegedly started) said, "The haat should have proper fire safety measures. They are charging us Rs 2 lakh as rent and have provided us a shop made of fibre." The shop owner said he has been a part of the haat for the past eight years. A massive fire broke out at the Delhi Haat in the INA area on Wednesday night in which over 30 shops and goods worth crores of rupees were gutted. 13 fire tenders were deployed to douse the blaze.
