CM gives ex-gratia to victims’ families
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday handed over ex-gratia assistance to the families of people who died in the Malviya Nagar fire and Saiduajab building collapse incidents, saying the government is taking concrete steps to prevent such tragedies in future.
The chief minister also asserted that those responsible for the two incidents will not be spared under any circumstances.
Six persons, mostly medical students, died in May after a multi-storey building collapsed in South Delhi’s Saidulajab area. In the Malviya Nagar fire tragedy earlier this month, 23 persons, mostly foreigners, died after the fire engulfed a building where a restaurant and hotel ran.
After meeting the affected families, the chief minister said, “No assistance can make up for the loss of a loved one, but in this hour of grief, the Delhi government stands firmly with you like a family.”
She met them at the Delhi Secretariat and handed over ex-gratia assistance of `10 lakh each, said a Delhi CMO statement.
“As a mother, a daughter and a public servant, I could deeply understand the pain and suffering being endured by the affected families,” Gupta said and assured that those responsible for these tragedies would not be spared.
She also said that the government is taking concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not recur in future. The chief minister handed over ex-gratia assistance to the families of those who lost their lives in the Saidulajab building collapse, including Ramesh Chandra, father of the late Ekta Chaudhary; Ram Prakash, father of the deceased Ravi Prakash Verma; Rajesh Kumar, father of deceased Kapil; Sanjay Kumar, father of the deceased Nalin; Satyavan Verma, father of the deceased Alok; and Jai Raj Ojha, husband of the deceased Parvati Ojha, the CMO said.
The chief minister also assisted the families affected by the Malviya Nagar tragedy. They included Saroj Devi, wife of the deceased Ashok Kumar Goyal; Sachin Agarwal, on behalf of the deceased Kamla Agarwal, Jawari Lal Agarwal; and Ramesh Prasad, on behalf of the deceased, Shrutika Barnwal, the statement said.
Family members who lost their loved ones in both incidents shared their grief with the chief minister in an emotional interaction. The affected families also raised concerns related to administrative arrangements and emergency response systems, stressing the need for more effective and concrete measures to prevent such incidents in the future, added the statement.
The chief minister said that the government is not viewing these incidents merely as accidents but as lessons that must strengthen public safety in the future.
