NEW DELHI: A devastating blaze at a hotel in a congested bylane of south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar on Wednesday has put the BJP government in the firing line of the Opposition, with both AAP and the Congress alleging lapses in the response to the inferno that snuffed out 21 lives.
Reacting to the news of the fire that broke out at the Fourish Stay bed-and-breakfast facility in Hauz Rani at around 8.30 am, former Delhi Chief Minister Atishi wrote on X in Hindi,
“The question is: Who will take responsibility for the recurrence of fire incidents in Delhi and the deaths of innocent people? Why has the fire safety system deteriorated to such a deplorable state on the BJP’s watch?... Such negligence at the cost of people’s lives is no longer acceptable.”
Echoing those sentiments, former AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar Somnath Bharti claimed that the fire brigade reached the site almost an hour late. “The rescue teams were despatched, but the fire brigade, which should have arrived within a few minutes of the incident, reached almost an hour later, despite the station being just three minutes away from the spot,” Bharti said.
Another AAP leader added to that, saying, “In the past three months, this is the third major fire incident calling attention to negligence.”
Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav, who visited the site, rued, “There is an absolute failure of the fire department in this case. Even though several other incidents have been reported in the past few days, the government is not focused on this issue. Alleging grave lapses, he noted, “There were around 20 rooms even though there was permission for only six."