'Factories close exit routes to hide illegal activities, stop theft'

New Delhi: Fear of theft, veiled illegal activities and ensuring that labourers do not flee are few of the reasons why factory owners close exit routes. The following observations were made by Delhi Fire Services (DFS) officials.

Fire officials said, "There are many reasons behind locking exit routes. We have observed that most factory owners lock emergency exits for safety of the raw materials used for manufacturing products from theft."

Atul Garg, Director DFS told Millennium Post that multiple factories have sprouted inside one building. "The owner of the factory wants to utilise more space to keep their labourers and raw materials. So they close the exit routes to house more things," said Garg. He further said, "Perhaps the most important reason for locking emergency exit is to hide the illegal activities going inside the factory. They deliberately close windows, exit routes to make sure that no one could see their ongoing activities from outside."

In most of the factory fire cases reported from the Capital city, it was found that the victims were from different states. They came to city to earn money for their families. "The labourers are locked inside the factory so that they cannot flee from there and tell other people and authorities about the illegal activities going inside the factory," said Garg, adding the locked or blocked exit routes result in mass casualties.

According to DFS data, till December 10, 2019, they have given fire NOC to at least 2,280 buildings. Last year over 2,600 and in 2017 — 1,883 buildings were given the certificates.

Children in danger

The child labourers are the most vulnerable to fire. In several rescue operations related to child labour, it was found that the minors were working under hazardous circumstances. The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) official said that in various rescue operations they have found that there were blockages at emergency exit route.

"Kids are forced to work between a heap of combustible materials and they are exposed to hazardous chemicals," said Roop Sudesh Vimal, DCPCR official. The Delhi Police data

revealed that, till October this year, as many as 109 cases under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, were registered. They have solved 51 of these cases and arrested 56 people.