Taking strong note of the charring of two kids in a fire at Etah on Tuesday, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav ordered the suspension of two the senior Fire department officials. The apathy of the firemen leasding to the tragic deaths resulted in mass protest which turned violent in which several persons were injured. Expressing profound grief over the deaths, the CM announced financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to the bereaved families.
As per reports, a short-circuit triggered a fire in a furniture shop of one Sunil under the Kotwali police station in Etah on Tuesday morning. While the cutomers, carpenters and the staff managed to scamper to safety, two children identified as Ansh (5), son of shop-owner and Akash (7), son of a worker Dileep were trapped inside. The local police rushed to the site and called the Fire brigade.
Although the firemen reached the scene on time, but a snag in their pumping equipment delayed the operations. Another fire tender was pressed into service which doused the fire but due to the delay in rescue the children were roasted alive.
Irked by the fire personnel, the locals attacked them. When the police tried to rescue the marooned firemen, protesters targeted the cops and stoned them. This later snowballed into a pitched battle between the police and the angry mob and continued for over four hour. Irate crowd set the fire tender, a temporary police outpost and two other heavy vehicles ablaze. When in a bid to control the situation police used tear gas and rubber bullets, the mob “retaliated with heavy stone pelting and chased away police,” reports said. District Magistrate Nidhi Kesarwani and SSP Santosh Kumar Singh too made an effort to control the situation, but failed. The DM’s car was also damaged by the mob. The rampage, which continued for nearly four hours, was later controlled by CRPF. The cops also reportedly caned media persons in which several of them were injured while camera of some of them was damaged.
In the clash, Janardan (22) sustained bullet injury while a fire fighter, a policeman named Abhilakh and two others were injured in stone pelting. Janardan and Abhilakh have been referred to a hospital in Agra and are stated to be in a serious condition. DIG Aligarh Govind Agarwal said that police pickets have
been set up at strategic locations in the city and heavy police force, including CRPF, PAC have been deployed.
In the evening, Home Secretary Mani Prasad Mishra through a communiqué said that taking serious note of the incident, the government has suspended Chief Fire Officer of Etah, JN Dohre, along with leading Fireman, Niranjan Prasad as they were found prime facie guilty of negligence. A departmental enquiry has been also ordered against them. He said that a probe was also ordered in connection with attack of media persons who reached to the spot.
Besides, the CM announced a compensation for the family of the young victims. A case was registered in connection with the fire and the violence afternath in which several police vehicles were damaged or burnt by the public. No one was arrested so far.