Family of three ‘missing’ firemen demand death certificates; administration in legal limbo

Assistant divisional fire officer (ADFO) Bhupinder Singh said he had lost nine members of his “family” and it was the “biggest blow ever to a fire brigade at least in Punjab”. “My team has handled bigger fires than this one. Fire did not kill them. They had controlled this one too, but they again went inside on someone’s orders and the building collapsed. I appeal to my team today that from now on, you will never enter a building which is on fire. You will douse flames from outside only, no matter how much time it takes. You will not put your life at stake. You will not listen to anyone who tells you to go inside,” he said.

On November 20, fire-storey building of Amarson Polymers collapsed, killing 16 persons, including nine firefighters.  Meanwhile, families of the three missing firemen have requested the officials to issue death certificates at the earliest. They met Joint Commissioner Kulpreet Singh and ADFO after the prayers in this regard. However, the administration and Ludhiana MC are in a fix, saying it is not that easy as it seemed earlier.

Malkit Singh, father of “missing” fireman Manpreet Singh, said, “The day they declared rescue operation over, they said we would not have to face any hassles and death certificates would be issued soon. But it has been more than 15 days that police recorded our statements and we have not received the certificates. I am an old man and can’t even see properly. Manpreet was my only son. I request officials with folded hands to issue us death certificate.”

Navan and Tamanna, children of “missing” fireman Manohar Lal who came with their mother Usha Rani, also met officials. They said, “Our housing loan instalment is deducted every month. Our father’s pending salary has not been credited yet. Also, we are waiting for death certificate required in several formalities.”

Prakash Singh, father of third “missing” fireman Sukhdev Singh also demanded death certificate. “Body of my son has not been found. Now at least we should not be hassled for a document.”

Case a ‘special circumstance’, no laid rules for it: DC

Authorities said the wait for three families might get longer. “We have compensation cheques of Rs 10 lakh each for families of six firemen ready, but we are not releasing them so that the other three families are not disappointed. We are waiting for three others to be declared dead, but the procedure is getting cumbersome as there is no clarity on it.”

Police say the three firemen have already been declared dead in their records, but a final nod has to come from the deputy commissioner. “We have already recorded statements of families. They are dead in our records, but now an SDM-level enquiry has been started again,” said Inspector Gurwinder Singh, SHO division number 2 police station.

However, death certificates can be issued only by health branch of Municipal Corporation, which is still waiting for a go-ahead from officials as there is no recovery of bodies in their record.  Ludhiana’s deputy commissioner Pardeep Aggarwal admitted “there is no laid rule for it”. “The case is a special circumstance, so the procedure to declare them dead is getting delayed,” he said.

“The SDM will submit me the report in a couple of days and then we will see if the decision is taken at my level or need to be sent for government approval,” said Aggarwal.