Hurt by the loss due to the fire which took place in Gopal Complex on Monday night, Central Maintenance Committee is likely to lodge a fresh FIR against Anil Chaudhary, proprietor of ‘Dresswala,’ who had been doing illegal construction work which instigated the fire putting the lives of over 100 residents in the building. Meanwhile, an investigation to find out the actual cause of fire has been initiated by the Fire Department.
A fire had broken out at Gopal Complex in late in the evening on Monday allegedly due to the ongoing welding work on the first floor of the building following which the residents living on sixth and seventh floor were rescued by hydraulic sky lift of the fire department. Fire officials said that smoke logging was so intense that they had to apply water canon on the basis of guesses as noting was visible.
“It took more than 6 hours to get control over the fire involving 7 fire tenders and 34 firemen including me who, without caring for their lives, rescued around 80 persons, including men women and children from the seventh floor,” said the State Fire Officer KK Thakur. Though, the fire was not very serious, but the smoke logging was so intense that it became difficult to rescue the people who got trapped in the fire, he added.
“Around 40 people were rescued through stairs, while same number of people was rescued making use us hydraulic lift,” said Thakur. Everybody as rescue safely without hurting anybody during the operation which is really commendable, he added.
“Good housekeeping is a must for such huge buildings having both residential and commercial units in it, which means keeping everything at a proper place to evade such fire. It was seen that the bundle of clothes were kept right from the bottom to the top which catch fire and generated very dense smoke making it difficult for the firemen to locate the place of fire,” said the State Fire Officer.
President of Gopal Complex Central Maintenance Committee KK Poddar said that they will lodge an FIR against the proprietor of the shop ‘Dresswala’ demanding removal of illegal construction done him altering the actual map of the building and fulfill the losses incurred by the flat and shop owners in the building.
“One FIR had also been lodged last year, but no action was taken. Now, we will again lodge and FIR and see that action is taken. The illegal construction done by him must be removed by the RMC immediately to avert such incidents in future,” said Poddar.