NDMC Mayor Preeti on Bawana fire: ''Don''t speak against the factory''

New Delhi, January 21

BJP leader and North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Preeti Aggarwal was purportedly caught on camera cautioning officials not to speak about the factory, where 17 persons died in a fire on Saturday, because its license was with the civic body.

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A massive fire broke out at a firecracker unit in outer Delhi's Bawana industrial area on Saturday evening.

Aggarwal, who visited the factory, was heard telling officials before talking to ANI, “Is factory ki license humare paas hai, isliye kuch nai bolna. (The license of this factory is with us, so we should not speak against it.)

The industrial area recorded three fires on Saturday—the first around 4 pm in a carpet manufacturing company in Sector 1, the second in the firecracker unit in Sector 5, and the third in Sector 3 at 7.30pm.

Aggarwal, a BJP leader, claimed the video was doctored, instead demanding an apology from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for “spreading a lie”.

“The worst part amidst this entire painful incident is that a fabricated video has been made viral. I expect Arvind Kejriwal to apologise to me for spreading this lie”, Aggarwal said.  “I only made some inquiry about the place from my co-workers and I meant we shouldn't say anything about such unfortunate incident at this time”, she added.

She also said the industrial area where the fire took place, “is under DSIDC and land allotment has been done by the Delhi government”.

BJP defends Mayor

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has defended the North Delhi Mayor Aggarwal, calling the video "fake".

Tiwari, while talking to ANI on Sunday, said that Aggarwal was quoted out of context to tarnish the image of the party.

“Preeti Aggarwal was asking the officials under whom does the factory come. The conversation is not clear, only 'ye factory' is clear. People are trying to make that fake video viral at a sad time just to blame the BJP”, he said.

The Delhi BJP chief also hit out at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for re-tweeting the video and sought his apology “for such a low-level politics in the time of despair”.

Another BJP leader OP Sharma also said that the matter should not be politicised and priority should be to provide relief to the people. 

“The matter should not be politicised. People should take a lesson from this for future references”, Sharma said.

“The party will see to the statement made by Aggarwal”, he said. 

#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