Playing with fire

The first lapse is forgivable, for it serves as a lesson to minimise recurrence. The second is understandable as new aspects may emerge. But any subsequent blunder is unpardonable, downright criminal. There is a massive price for lessons unlearnt. Seventeen people, killed in the Tuesday Delhi hotel blaze, paid this price. Before them, five senior citizens did, in a major fire that engulfed a 16-storeyed residential building in Mumbai in December. The worst of all, and one that should have been a compulsive tipping point, was the tragic Uphaar cinema fire that claimed 59 lives. The year was 1997. Over two decades later, the lesson is characteristically elusive. 

The toll could have been more; around 120 people were inside the Delhi hotel at the time of the fire. These incidents are not isolated instances of nature’s fury or a quirk of fate. These are engineered by humans making light of fire norms and circumventing laws. The hotel lacked mandatory safety measures. Inflammable material was everywhere; wood panels on corridors making any escape impossible. The locked emergency exit sealed the fate of the victims. There were glaring violations, and yet, the hotel was in possession of a no-objection certificate (NOC) issued by the fire department. Unable to use hose reels and fire extinguishers, the staff was clearly not familiar with the basic fire drill. 

Incidents of fire occur with frightening regularity, and typically, concerns are expressed over safety; violation of building bylaws; vulnerability of old electrical fittings and buildings; congested, narrow bylanes that restrict the movement of fire engines, hampering rescue operations; and illegal structural changes and encroachments. And yet nothing has come out of it. The owner is on the run and the general manager has been arrested. Should a show-cause notice not be served on the regulatory body that grants NOC — renewed every three years — but does not deem it necessary to follow it up with inspections? We don’t seem to be learning even the hard way. How many more must pay this price?