‘Iss Factory Ki Licencing Hamare Paas Hai’: North Delhi Mayor stokes row over Bawana fire

Aggrawal visited the spot where 17 people were killed on Saturday night to take stock of the situation as the area falls under her Corporation.

North Delhi Mayor Preeti Aggarwal. (Source: Twitter/ANI)

BJP leader and North Delhi Municipal corporation (NDMC) Mayor Preeti Aggarwal has stoked a controversy after she purportedly suggested her aides not to talk about the building that was engulfed in a massive fire on Saturday evening in Bawana, which left 17 people dead.

In an ANI video, Aggarwal was caught on camera telling her aide, “iss factory ki licensing hamare paas hai isliye hum kuch nahi bol sakte (license of this factory is with us. So we can’t speak about it).”

Denying the allegations, the BJP leader called it a fake video and instead blamed the Aam Aadmi Party for circulating the video on social media platforms to “politicise the death of the people”. She also demanded an apology from Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for retweeting the video.

#WATCH: In the aftermath of Bawana factory fire, BJP leader & North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Preeti Aggarwal caught on cam telling her aide, 'iss factory ki licensing hamare paas hai isliye hum kuch nahi bol sakte.' The incident has claimed 17 lives. #Delhi pic.twitter.com/zXfVjNADl2

— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2018

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Aggrawal visited the spot to take stock of the situation as the area falls under her Corporation. Her statements elicited harsh criticism from AAP and Congress leaders among others. AAP accused the BJP-led corporation of maintaining silence on the death of innocent people and do politics over it.

This industrial area is under DSIDC & land allotment has been done by Delhi government. They should at least see what work is being done there. Is making a fake video viral & confusing public is fair? It's condemnable & I expect Arvind Kejriwal Ji to apologise: Preeti Aggarwal pic.twitter.com/IYhcNsr9Nu

— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2018

BJP Delhi president Manoj Tiwari also targetted CM Kejriwal over the video and said, “There can be no deed more lowly and downtrodden than this; at a time when tragic deaths of 17 people took place, Delhi CM Kejriwal is tweeting a fake video. This site, this factory, its licence- everything belongs to Delhi government’s Industry Department. It was being run illegally under Arvind Kejriwal.”

इससे घटिया हरकत क्या हो सकती है कि 17 लोगों के दर्दनाक मौत के समय एक झूठे विडियो को @ArvindKejriwal CM Delhi ख़ुद Retweet करें..!!! ये जगह,ये factory,इसका लाइसेन्स, सब दिल्ली सरकार और उसके इंडस्ट्री dept का है और ग़ैर क़ानूनी चलवा रहे थे sir https://t.co/0HjgISzCLT

— Manoj Tiwari (मोदी का परिवार) 🇮🇳 (@ManojTiwariMP) January 20, 2018

Seventeen people were killed, including seven women, in a fire that broke out at an illegal firecracker storage unit in Bawana Industrial Area of Delhi on Saturday. Around 50 workers were trapped inside the three-floor unit, and Delhi Fire Services said a majority of the deaths were caused by burns while a few died after inhaling toxic fumes.

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