Child among 6 killed in big blaze at two Lucknow hotels
HAZARDS Many bldgs don’t have NoC from fire dept, some don’t even exist as hotels in records: Officer
LUCKNOW: Six people, including a one-year-old child, were killed and 10 others injured after fire broke out in two hotels in the crowded Naka area here on Tuesday morning, officials said.
Many vehicles in the parking areas of the hotels were also damaged. The injured include four minors aged between 5 and 15 years. The condition of three of those injured is stated to be critical. At least 86 guests were rescued by fire-fighters from the hotels.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed grief over the incident and announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia each to the family of deceased and Rs 50,000 each to the grievously injured.
He has asked officials to ensure all help to those injured in the fire.
State minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi visited Civil Hospital where the injured were undergoing treatment.
District magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident. He said a city magistrate would conduct inquiry and submit a report within a month.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Lucknow, Deepak Kumar said the fire broke out in SSJ International and Viraat International hotels inside a narrow lane of Dhoodhmandi, near Mushafirkhana in Naka area.
He added that the fire started from the basement of SJS International at around 5.30 am, apparently due to a short circuit, and flames soon engulfed the adjoining Viraat International. He said flames engulfed both the hotels before rescue operation
could be started.
The SSP said over a dozen injured hotel guests were sent to the civil hospital where six people, including a child named Maher, were declared brought dead. He added that they reportedly suffocated to death after being trapped inside the hotel buildings.“Out of six deceased, four were guests at SSJ International and two at Viraat International,” he said. Besides Mehar, the other deceased were Santosh Mane (Pune, Maharashtra), Priyank Sharma (Aligarh) and Avinash Kumar Singh and Ganesh Prasad (both from Patna). One of the deceased could not be identified. Kumar said Maher’s mother Rani (25) was critically injured with around 85 per cent burns and was undergoing treatment in Civil Hospital.
According to the SSP, preliminary probe suggested that firefighting equipment were installed in the hotels but the staff were not trained to use them. He said the hotels’ owners, as well as employees, fled the scene after the incident.
“An FIR has been lodged against hotel owners, Arpit Jaiswal of SSJ International and Surendra Jaiswal of Viraat International, as well as the employees for negligence and putting human lives in danger,” Kumar said.
LUCKNOW: Hotels located in the narrow lanes of Charbagh, Pandariba, Naka Hindola and Aminabad are ticking time bombs. Reason: The buildings in these areas are crowded together, the access roads are narrow for fire vehicles while haphazardly parked vehicles and encroachments block the roads.
Most of them are constructed in an unauthorised way, posing hazard for their visitors, said AB Pandey, chief fire officer.
As per estimates, over 400 small hotels are located in narrow lanes of Charbagh, Pandariba, Naka Hindola and Aminabad.
“Many such buildings don’t have clearance from the fire department and some of them don’t even exist as hotels in the records,” claimed Pandey.
Besides, rampant encroachments in these areas are a hurdle for free movement of fire tenders, he added.
Pandey, however, said he would not be able to tell about the number of hotels that have clearance of fire department as he is currently focusing on the fire incident in Charbagh.
“Six lives have been lost in the fire tragedy in Charbagh because of LDA officials who permitted the construction of hotels in narrow lanes, LMC that allowed encroachers to occupy roads, and inaction of the police despite repeated complaints of locals,” said Ram Gopal Jaiswal, former corporator of the area.
LDA officials refused to comment, when asked about the number of maps cleared by them for hotels in narrow lanes.
Most of these hotels are managed by poorly trained staff, who don’t have any knowledge about handling emergency situations, said sources.
No land is available for construction of fire station in Aminabad, said Shafiqur Rehman, corporator.
The route from Mohan Market to Hanuman temple is heavily encroached while the road in front of Madhur Milan and Hanuman Temple is so narrow that it’s difficult to ride two-wheelers here. The medicine market route is worse, where one can commute only by foot, said locals.
District magistrate Kaushalraj Sharma has constituted two teams for the inspection of all hotels, restaurants, bars and nursing homes in the city. ADM (city) east and ASP (west) will be nodal officers for this inspection.
These teams would be made in two days’ time, said Sharma. The teams would comprise of additional city magistrate, circle officer police, officials of LMC, LDA and LESA. They will prepare a report on these points:
*Whether the buildings are authorised or not.
* Whether they have approved map and NoCs from LDA, LMC and from fire department or nor
* Whether they have power load required to run their complex or not.