Two major fire incidents across the country have grabbed headlines with deaths of children and newborns in recent times.
On Saturday night, a massive fire outbreak in the TRP’s games zone in Rajkot killing 9 kids and 24 adults. In another part of the country, on the same day, a major fire broke out in East Delhi’s Children’s hospital caused the death of 7 newborns.
Both incidents have caused widespread anger against the government and local administration for the devastating tragedy in the two places. The cause of the incident at these two sites is not yet known.
Rajkot Game Zone Blast
Rajkot’s tragedy in the TRP games zone has killed 33 individuals with more than 15 people missing in the debris resulting from the fire outbreak. The Gujarat High Court on Sunday called it a “man made disaster” in a suo motu cognisance. This data is confirmed by the local media and sources, the local administration is yet to release an official number.
Distraught family members are questioning the absence of authority and lack of security compliances by the game zone. “What was the local municipal corporation, other agencies doing? This game zone came up 4 years ago. Why no authority or official bothered to check whether it had necessary compliances,” said a local resident. They demand capital punishment for those responsible for this grave accident.
In the meantime, the Police have lodged an FIR against six individuals under IPC sections 304, 308, 336, 338 and 114. Two, including the gaming zone manager have been arrested. The FIR disclosed the absence of approvals and safety protocols that should have been followed by the operators. The amusement park of their game zone had not applied for the fire NOC nor did they have a proper fire safety mechanism and their three storey building spread in 2000 square metre plot had tin roofs.
A two judge bench of Justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai in Gujarat High Court will hear the case on Monday, May 27. Representatives of TRP corporations have been asked to produce the set of provisional laws under which these recreational facilities were set up and operated under their jurisdiction.
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East Delhi Children’s hospital fire tragedy
DELHI | At least seven newborns died in a massive fire that broke out at a New Born Baby Care Children’s Hospital in Vivek Vihar in Delhi. The Delhi Fire Services said it received a call about a fire at 11.32 pm at a baby care centre in the Vivek Vihar area in East Delhi,… pic.twitter.com/w6x3fCMjZf
— ℝ𝕒𝕛 𝕄𝕒𝕛𝕚 (@Rajmajiofficial) May 26, 2024
Hours later the Rajkot incident, at 11:32 pm on Saturday, a fire broke out at the Children’s hospital in Vivek Vihar area of East Delhi. The massive inferno took the lives of 7 infants. 12 infants were rescued but 7 of them died. The remaining five have been hospitalized and are undergoing treatment.
The incident received condolences from PM Modi and President Murmu calling it a heartrending accident and extended their support to the bereaved families in such difficult times.
Naveen Kichi, owner of the baby hospital has been arrested amidst calls for strict actions against the perpetrators by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj has directed the Health secretary and chief secretary for speedy enquiry into the fire incident and release names of those responsible. “Culprits will not be spared. Strictest punishment will be ensured for those found negligent or involved in any wrongdoing,” declared Mr. Bhardwaj.
The Delhi fire service director has discovered the plausible explanation behind the fire outbreak. He believes that it was caused due to a blast in an oxygen cylinder and spread rapidly.