Members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) held a meeting with local administration in Gujarat’s Rajkot city in the wee hours of Sunday in connection with the fire at a game zone fire here that left 27 persons dead and three injured. The bodies were charred beyond recognition. The DNA samples of the bodies and the victim’s relatives have been collected for identification of the deceased, they said.
Four children under the age of 12 were among the 27 persons killed in the massive fire that swept through a game zone teeming with people enjoying a summer vacation outing on Saturday evening, as per the officials. The owner and manager of the game zone have been arrested, officials said.
A special bench of the Gujarat High Court on Sunday took suo motu cognizance of the Rajkot fire incident and said it was prima facie a “man-made disaster”. Such gaming zones and recreational facilities have come up without the necessary approvals from competent authorities, the bench of Justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai observed. A stock of highly inflammable materials such as petrol, fibres and fibre glass sheets were stored at the Rajkot game zone where the fire occurred, the court noted.
While President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several leaders including Chief Ministers expressed grief over the tragedy, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel visited the incident site at Nana-Mava road on Sunday morning and a hospital where the injured persons were admitted. The Prime Minister has sought the information of the incident from the Chief Minister and has expressed grief. The PM has directed that strong action be taken against the culprits.
The five-member SIT formed by the State Government, to conduct a probe into the incident and submit a report within 72 hours, reached Rajkot late Saturday night and held a meeting with the local administration.
Additional Director General of Police Subhash Trivedi, who heads the SIT said the inquiry will begin immediately to find out those responsible for it and ensure no such incident is repeated in the future. “We will go through all the aspects of the incident and investigate them thoroughly—We will work with commitment and complete honesty and integrity to provide justice to the children who have lost their lives,” Trivedi said.
“The bodies are charred beyond recognition, and we have completed the process of collecting the DNA samples of the bodies and the relatives who have claimed them so that the identity of the deceased can be established. The death toll is not likely to rise any further,” he said.
The exact cause of the massive fire is not yet known. The CM has announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to each injured.
In the wake of the fire tragedy, the state director general of police has issued instructions to the commissioners of police and superintendents of police to inspect all the game zones in Gujarat and close those running without fire safety permission.
The Gujarat High Court bench directed advocates of the Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot municipal corporations to appear before it on Monday with instructions as to under what provisions of law the authorities led these units to be set up or continue to operate under their jurisdiction.
“We are shocked to read newspaper reports which indicate that the gaming zone at Rajkot appears to have taken advantage of the loopholes in the Gujarat Comprehensive General Development Control Regulations (GDCR). These entertainment zones, as newspapers suggest, have come up without the necessary approvals from the competent authorities,” the court observed.
The HC also wanted to know from the state government and the municipal corporations “whether such licenses, including the licenses to its use and compliance of fire safety regulations” were given to these respective (entertainment) zones that are in territorial jurisdiction of these corporations. These entertainment zones, as newspapers suggest, have come up without the necessary approvals from the competent authorities, the court noted.
Not just Rajkot, such game zones have come up in Ahmedabad city as well and they “pose a significant threat to public safety, specially the innocent children,” it said. “Prima facie, a man-made disaster has occurred where innocent lives of children have been lost” and families have grieved their loss, it said.
The court listed the suo motu petition for further hearing on Monday, with a direction to the panel advocates for the respective corporations to appear before it with instructions as to “under what provisions of law these corporations led these gaming zones/recreational facilities to be set up or continue and be put to use.”
