It was a call for a drill that mocked a tragedy. Even as firemen were busy fighting the massive blaze at the Adidas factory in Kherki Daula that left 10 persons injured, the fire department got a call about another fire at the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office on Tuesday afternoon.

It turned out to be a call for a “mock drill”. Reason: to check “preparedness” of the fire department, as Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria explained on Wednesday.

The call came at 4.35 pm, and the department immediately rushed two fire engines to the Mini Secretariat near Rajiv Chowk, which houses the DC office. One of the fire engines was in fact pulled out from the rescue operations at the factory site.

The insensitivity and the bad timing of the drill call did not escape police and fire officials, though none was ready to come on record.

“It becomes our priority to get into action as soon as possible when we get a call from the DC office,” Gurgaon’s District Fire Officer Hanuman Sihag said. “We had three fire tenders at the Adidas factory when we received the call.”

One was withdrawn
According to reports, 10 persons, including the district fire officer and several firefighters and workers at the unit, were injured in the blaze that broke out on Monday evening. Deputy Commissioner Kataria had, in fact, visited the site on the first evening itself and was aware of the gravity of the mishap.

Asked to explain the mock drill even under such circumstances, Kataria today said, “I was checking preparedness of the fire department and the ambulance services. (This is) just in case there is an actual fire elsewhere.”

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