The Tribune – Jalandhar Tragedy; Four top officials face action for ignoring violations

Ruchika M. Khanna, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 24. The Punjab Government is set to act against its officials for failing to check gross violations in the tragedy-struck Shital Fibres unit at Jalandhar. The role of four persons posted as Deputy Director, Factories, at Jalandhar between 2007 (when the unit became operational) till date is now under the scanner.

Factory owner Shital Vij is also likely to face resumption proceedings for the industrial plot on which the blanket-manufacturing unit stood before its collapse last week.

Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation officials said they will, however, wait for the inquiry committee headed by Lt Gen BS Dhaliwal (retd) to submit its report before initiating resumption proceedings against Vij.

Senior Labour Department officials said an explanation is being sought against the four Deputy Directors, Factories, as to why action should not be initiated against them, for failing to check how the unit was allowed to function without getting the mandatory licence of operation from the Labour Department and without getting its building and zoning plans approved.

“The role of these four officers is being questioned by the inquiry committee headed by the Jalandhar Division Commissioner.

The Labour Department will also seek an explanation from them for failing to check how the unit was running without a licence. It also did not have a building stability certificate whereas rules clearly state that no industry can begin manufacturing without it.

Though the onus of applying for the licences lies with the factory owner, the Deputy Director, Factories, should also check and ensure that all factories complete the mandatory formalities,” said a senior Labour Department official.

The Tribune had reported in its columns today regarding the gross building by laws violations by the factory owner.

Against a sanctioned height of 38 feet, the factory building had been raised to a height of approximately 42 feet, with the third floor having a tin roof. For over five years that this unit was operational, its building plans were never approved, nor did the factory owner ever submit a structural design plan. The built up area of the factory was 100 per cent of the size of the industrial plot.

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The Tribune – Jalandhar tragedy; Building was waiting to collapse

Plans not approved – Factory raised beyond prescribed 38ft

Ruchika M Khanna, Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 23. Tragedy was waiting to happen at Shital Fibres in Jalandhar. The blanket-manufacturing unit — which collapsed like a pack of cards on the night of April 15 snuffing out lives of 23 workers and leaving many others injured, some even permanently disabled — had come up in gross violation of building norms and labour laws.

It has now come to light that against a sanctioned height of 38 feet, the building had been raised to approximately 42 feet, with the third floor having just a tin shed for a roof. The building plan was never approved nor did the owner ever submit the mandatory structural design plan.

Giving a complete go-by to norms for a zoning plan, the built-up area of the factory was 100 per cent of the size of the industrial plot.

The factory owner did not obtain a “building stability certificate” and no safety audit of the premises was carried out. These are some of the shocking findings of the departmental probe initiated by the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC) and the Labour Department after the accident. The two departments will submit their report to the probe panel headed by Lt Gen (retd) BS Dhaliwal, technical adviser to the Chief Minister.

Interestingly, the departmental inquiry also reveals that the industrial plot was originally allotted to one Gursharan Singh in 1992, but was later bought by Shital Vij to run his blanket unit.

The records reveal the transfer of the plot, measuring 2,500 square yards, was affected in 2007.

Though the zoning rules clearly specify that the factory construction could have been done only on 22, 500 square meters, the survivors say the factory had a 100 per cent built-up area. Many survivors have claimed that the factory had four storeys.

However, the officials say they have found evidence of three storeys, with the ground floor and first floor having a lintered roof. The third storey just had a tin-shed roof.

Official sources said it was still unclear if the machines placed on the first floor of the factory caused vibrations while running. In case the machines were too heavy and ran on power, it would again be a violation of rules, which do not permit placing of heavy machinery and machinery running on power on the first floor of an industrial unit.

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The Tribune – Jalandhar tragedy; 2 more contractors held, toll reaches 23; Digging pits along the foundation may have led to the mishap

Varinder Singh, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 22. The toll in the Shital Fibres building collapse has gone up to 23 even as the police has arrested a contractor, his assistant and a JCB machine operator for digging 14-15 pits, each 7 ft to 8 ft deep, at an adjoining vacant plot also owned by Shital Vij.

Navjot Mahal, ADCP, has impounded the JCB machine used for digging the pits for the purpose of raising pillars. The police had already arrested Sarwan Singh, one of the builders.

“Ram Singh, contractor of the upcoming building, his assistant Hans Raj and JCB operator Jagdish were arrested last night from Lamma Pind Chowk. They have told the police that they dug several pits. Since these were dug close to the foundation, the factory might have caved in. Experts associated with the probe have also corroborated this theory,” said Navjot Mahal.

The accused were produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate Tripatjot Kaur who remanded them in police custody till April 24.

He said construction on the new unit of Shital Fibres was started about two months ago. Commissioner of Police Gaurav Yadav, it is learnt, has asked the Deputy Director (Factories) to join the investigations. He has sent letters to officials of the PSIEC, the sewerage wing and the labour department to elaborate on the rules and regulations on safety of industrial buildings.

Meanwhile, rescuers have bored holes and tunnels through the rubble to reach the adjoining factory which was sealed by the administration after it developed cracks. Additional Deputy Commissioner Parneet Bhardwaj is supervising the rescue operation along with Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti.

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The Tribune – Bihar officers visit disaster site, To stay put till rescue operation ends, announce Rs 1 lakh ex gratia for victims’ kin

Deepkamal Kaur & Kusum Arora, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 20. As officers from Bihar reached the site where Shital Fibres factory stood until last Sunday, hapless labourers fell at their feet, pleading for help in their hour of need.

Amar Chatterjee, Bihar’s Deputy Resident Commissioner in New Delhi, Jagmohan Mishra, Manager Bihar-I, and Kaushlendra, Labour Inspector, reached the disaster site this afternoon. They were surrounded by labourers, each trying to narrate his tale of woe.

Her hands folded, Pasho Devi, whose 18-year old son Pankaj is among those trapped under the debris, requested the officers: “Hamar bete ko bacha lijiye” (Please save my son).” She seemed hopeful that the officers would ask the ‘fauj’ (army) to locate her son at the earliest.

Chatterjee met Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti. He was told that at least 70 labourers were inside the factory at the time of the mishap. “The Bihar Government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh for the next of kin and relief for the injured will be announced too.

“We have started preparing a list of those dead and injured and will stay here till the rescue work is over ”, he said, adding that the Bihar CM might visit Jalandhar soon.

On the issue of children working in the factory, Chatterji said: “This is the responsibility of the District labour Department to check if any child labourer was employed. As of now, we are concerned about those trapped under the debris”. Labour Inspector Kaushlendra interacted with the labourers and took their cell numbers so as to assist them in every possible way.

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The Tribune – Stuck in hell hole, he hung on to hope

Deepkamal Kaur, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 19. It’s almost a similar survival tale of two teenaged friends from Bihar who were together minutes before tragedy struck the Shital Fibres building at Jalandhar Focal Point around 11:30 pm on Sunday. Both saw death from very close as they lay trapped under the rubble — a few metres away from each other.

While Sanjiv was saved around 51 hours after the mishap at 1:20 am on Tuesday, the Almighty blessed Nitesh with a “new life” at 12:30 am on Wednesday, 73 hours after the illegal blanket-manufacturing factory building came down like a pack of cards.

Now, the friends lie united again. They are receiving treatment at the same hospital — their beds are at a distance of a few metres. Like Sanjiv, Nitesh too hid under a cutting machine and both survived with minor bruises. Both are finding it hard to believe they were taken out alive even as several of their colleagues weren’t so fortunate. Nitesh recalls his ordeal: “There was some noise and a few seconds later, the building came down. I hid below a cutting machine.”

Though unusual, he says, he neither felt thirsty nor hungry for three days. “I had finished my dinner minutes before the mishap… The only thing that bothered me was the tremendous heat. Rats were moving around, but they didn’t trouble me much.” One thing that he missed the most was his cellphone. “My friend Amarjit, who too has survived, took my mobile phone half an hour before the disaster. Had I got it, I would have easily contacted my friends.”

In frustration, Nitesh tore all the currency notes, totalling around Rs 9,000, he had in his purse. He had received his salary hours that day. “I had lost all hopes. I tore the entire bundle of notes at one go and then kept on toring them into smaller bits. As I did all this, I only had one thing on my mind: If at all the Almighty gives me a chance to live, he may even bless me with more money,” he remembers while laughing at his foolishness. Nitesh would be receiving Rs 40,000 as relief from the Punjab Government.

It was around 10 pm yesterday that Nitesh heard the rumbling of machines. “I heard some noise and shouted for help. The response came and I kept on answering whatever the rescue team asked me….They finally reached me after around two-and-a-half hours,” he narrates.

Asked if he tried to collect the bits of currency notes when he saw help coming his way, he says, “I was so excited to come out that I did not even for once want to return into the hell hole.”

Nitesh says he and his father Suresh Yadav, who came from Bihar after learning about the incident, sat down weeping for around an hour. “I am eager to see my mother and younger brother in Bihar. I am not really sure whether I will ever return to work in Punjab,” exclaims Nitesh, his face beaming with joy.

Death toll rises to 19

The death toll from the Jalandhar building collapse incident has risen to 19 while the count of those rescued from the rubble has touched 62. The number of casualties may further rise as the debris of the ground and first floors of the four-storeyed building was yet to be cleared. Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said nine bodies had been extricated till Wednesday while one more was pulled out from the debris on Thursday.

Besides, the Army and National Disaster Response Force personnel had spotted nine bodies inside, which were yet to be pulled out. Bharti said the administration would confirm the deaths of these nine workers only after their bodies were extricated.

Shital Vij’s remand extended

The police remand of Shital Vij, owner of the collapsed factory, has been extended by four more days by a city court today.

Shital was produced in the court of illaqa magistrate Tripatjit Kaur, who remanded him to police custody for four more days till April 23. The police had requested the court to extend the remand for at least seven more days for procuring the record, including the register of the employees working in the factory and getting other relevant information from him.

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The Tribune – Jalandhar tragedy; 51 hrs into depths of despair

Deepkamal Kaur, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 18. For the National Disaster Response Force team spearheading the rescue operation at the collapsed Shital Fibres building, saving teenager Sanjiv was perhaps the most satisfying job. For, he was brought out from the rubble at 1:20 am today, around 51 hours after being trapped at 11:30 pm on Sunday.

Sanjiv was traced as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team had been digging from the rear side of the factory.

The team carried along a life-detector machine with six sensors on it, capable of detecting heart beat or any audio wave up to a distance of 500 metres. As soon as the NDRF team made its entry inside the collapsed structure at 5:30 pm last evening,

the life-detector machine beeped and all the JCB machines pulling the debris around the building were stopped.

Two NDRF jawans, Jeet Singh and Sukhvir Singh, were provided with torches and microphones, which they used to trace Sanjiv as per the location details they received from the sensors. “A response came from the other side with the trapped victim claiming he was under machine number 15,” they said. Factory supervisor Piara Singh, who hails from Phagwara, was called in to track the location. Breaching machines equipped with diamond cutters were then deployed to carve out a tunnel to reach out to the boy who was approximately 30 feet away.

“The cutting process took long. We could then see the boy squatting in there through a small hole that became our contact point. He was asking for water. We tied a bottle to an iron rod and passed it on to him through the gap. Then we sent a packet of biscuits and a torch,” narrated NDRF Commandant RK Verma who had been in touch with Ajit and Sukhvir through walkie-talkie sets.

The team used Victim Location Camera and LCD screens to detect three bodies this morning. The bodies were from Bapi Rai (20) of West Bengal, Suresh Singh and Ram Lal Kesri (24), both from Bihar. The Army had been using the cameras with dog squads but as they refused to enter, these were tied to rods and pushed inside to get images. The NDRF has already deployed high-power JCB machines to expedite the rubble-lifting operation.

Rescue teams have been pulling the debris from three sides: front portion, the rear side along the Bist-Doab Canal and the third side where a factory was under construction. As the NDRF and the Army are still hopeful of finding survivors, they are removing iron pillars and girders one by one in a tactical manner.

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The Tribune – Death toll rises to 10; Rescue operation may continue for three more days

Dharmendra Joshi, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 17. The death toll in the Jalandhar building collapse incident has risen to 10 while the count of those rescued from the rubble has touched 60. A number of workers were still feared trapped inside even as rescue operations were on.

The rescue operation for removing debris from the site gained momentum today morning, a few hours ahead of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s visit to the site at 2.15 pm. While six bodies had been extricated so far, four had been spotted under the collapsed building by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel. Efforts were on to extricate them.

Two bodies were extricated on Monday while four were pulled out from the debris today.

The Army and NDRF teams also succeeded in rescuing three workers alive from the debris between 10.30 pm on Monday and 6.58 am on Tuesday.

Satinder Kumar, a labourer, was rescued at 10.30 pm yesterday after remaining trapped for about 23 hours. Two more migrants, Vinod and Vir Davinder, were brought out at 5.40 am and 6.58 am, respectively, today.

The rescue work continued entire Monday night but for two hours when it was halted at 2 pm due to rain.

As many as six JCB machines, 14 tippers and 150 Jalandhar Municipal Corporation men are engaged in removing the rubble.

Municipal Commissioner BS Dhaliwal said, “It will take at least three more days to remove the debris.”

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The Tribune – Eight die in Jalandhar factory collapse

Scores of workers trapped under rubble
Army, relief teams called in
Rescue operations on war-footing

Dharmendra Joshi, Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, April 16. At least eight employees of a blanket-manufacturing unit were killed and 55 others hurt after a four-storey building in Focal Point Extension here collapsed late last night. Several workers are feared trapped inside even as the rescue operations are on.

Tragedy struck at Shital Fibres around 11.30 pm on Sunday when over 300 employees were working over-time, according to some workers. Most of the employees were migrants from UP and Bihar.

Factory owner Shital Vij said the exact number of workers in the unit could not be ascertained as the attendance register lay buried as well. He said around 70 workers could have been inside when tragedy struck. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Commandant SK Verma said two bodies had been extricated whereas six were spotted under a collapsed beam.

While the exact cause of the accident is not known, NDRF Assistant Commandant Musaphir Ram said the building seemed to have collapsed due to poor construction. Shital Fibres MD Abhishek Vij said the factory was constructed four years ago.

Relatives and friends of the trapped workers complained of the tardy pace of rescue operations and raised slogans against the administration. Police Commissioner Gaurav Yadav managed to persuade the mob to allow smooth conduct of operations.

Residents living near the factory were among the first to reach the site along with police and fire brigade personnel. The Army and the NDRF were called in after Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti and other officers realised the magnitude of the disaster.

Kuldeep Patial of nearby Guru Amar Dass Nagar told The Tribune that he along with 10-odd youths of the locality reached the accident site shortly after hearing a loud noise. They rescued 10 workers.

The entire 30-member staff of the local fire brigade led by additional divisional fire officer Kashmir Singh began rescue operation soon after. “Firemen reached the spot within five minutes of getting information and saved many precious lives,” Kashmir Singh said.

The Punjab Government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of the kin of each of the deceased, Rs 65,000 for the seriously hurt and Rs 45,000 for those who sustained minor injuries. Of the injured, 16 have been discharged, whereas 39 are still in hospitals.

The injured were rushed to the Devi Talab Mandir Hospital and Civil Hospital here. Factory owner Sheetal Vij is also president of the Devi Talab Mandir Management Committee that runs the hospital of the same name. Several teams of NGOs, including Pahal and sewadars of Dera Sacha Sauda, also joined rescue work. A 45-member NDRF team led by its Assistant Commandant Musaphir Ram reached the site from its Bathinda Headquarters. It started rescue operations at about 6.30 am.

“Rescue operations are on in full swing, but teams are finding it difficult to reach the buried survivors,” Musaphir Ram said, when asked about the slow pace of rescue operation.“We are using various type of equipment to tear through the debris and reach the trapped persons and have rescued several workers,” he said.

A column of army engineers of Vajra Corps led by Colonel Simrajeet Singh also reached the spot at 7.30 am. It also pressed sniffer dogs into service to reach out to survivors. After initial operations, another NRDF team was rushed in from Bathinda, which reached the site today afternoon.

Divisional Commissioner Anurag Verma and Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti were supervising rescue operations. The NDRF Assistant Commandant said it would take at least two days to clear the debris and know the exact loss of human life and property.

The Divisional Commissioner has been asked to look into the incident. Soon after visiting the site, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, SK Sandhu, said building experts would assist in the probe. He also said that all commercial and industrial buildings in the state would be put through a safety review to avoid recurrence of an untoward incident.

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