Gloves and masks — all they had in name of safety gear at Rewari factory: Victims’ kin

Four days after the Rewari factory dust collector blast left 40 workers injured, six have died so far. While three died during their treatment at PGI Rohtak, two died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital and one died while he was being taken to Safdarjung.

Ramu, 25, got married to Soni two years ago. The couple, originally from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, had been living in Rewari’s Dharuhera for the past six months. Three days after being hospitalised, Soni said he was showing signs of improvement. “He would speak, use his phone and everything seemed to have gotten better. On Tuesday evening, the doctor was changing his plaster when he said he was hungry. I told him he could have milk once the doctor was done, but suddenly he felt shortness of breath and the doctor asked me to leave the ward. The oxygen supply was initiated, but in two minutes the doctor came outside and told us that he was no more,” Soni, who works at a beer bottle manufacturing unit, said.

Soni’s brother-in-law Asish also works at the same factory, but he had left for home half an hour before the accident took place.

The family of another labourer Ajay, 32, had been waiting outside the mortuary since 4 pm on Tuesday. Arvind Kumar and Raju, Ajay’s brothers, had been waiting with the other two families for their names to be called out and release of the bodies. “We don’t know anything about probe or compensation. We haven’t had even a drop of water since yesterday. We just want the bodies released after the post-mortem,” Raju said, adding that there were more patients in the ICU.

“The number is going up staggeringly and the police have not made any arrests yet. The fault lies with the company authorities and there has been no action against anyone as of now. They told us about compensation, but we do not need any of it,” Raju, a caterer based out of Delhi, said. The family, originally from Sitapur in UP, would take the body to Azadpur and later to their village. Ajay leaves behind a six-month-old daughter and his wife.

Raking up the issue of safety inside the factory, he said Ajay had suffered burns on his face. “Had there been any safety gear and if the authorities had ensured that the factory was cleaned and maintained, would the blast have such a toll? They were only given gloves and masks, which melted into their skin when the fire spread,” he said.

“Since yesterday, when they started dying one by one, every family has lost hope. Their condition is deteriorating. Ajay was taken to the ICU, but patients are dying in wards, and even on their way to a better hospital,” Raju said.

The labourers were paid on the basis of the number of pieces they helped manufacture. Most labourers would work on Sundays to attain the target, families claimed. Parveen Kumar, 22, the nephew of Rajesh, 35, who died on Tuesday night, said the factory had little to no safety and concern for the labourers.

“I work in a company that makes vehicle parts like Lifelong, but in Bangalore. We have basic safety gear, but the authorities make sure the dust collector is cleaned every week,” he said. Showing a picture of his uncle, wherein his face sported scalds and skin hanging off his ears and cheeks, he said: “This is the case of many patients here. The casualties will go up.”

Dharuhera SHO Jagdish Chand said they were yet to make any arrests. “We have sought details of the manager, owner and others responsible for the blast and will soon arrest the accused,” he said, adding that the committee formed to probe the case would submit the report soon.

Though the contractors working with Lifelong India Pvt Ltd were present at the spot, they refused to comment on the incident.

Subhash Rana, general manager, HR, Lifelong India Pvt Ltd, said the incident took place due to a short circuit. “We installed the dust collectors to protect labourers from diseases that would arise from being subjected to the dust. We had given them protective equipment, including gloves, goggles and earplugs,” he added. Rejecting the complaint filed in the incident, he said it was for the first time that a dust collector had exploded.