CM announces magisterial probe and compensation into Karol Bagh hotel fire

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MINISTER
GOVERNMENT OF DELHI
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New Delhi: 12/02/2019

CM announces magisterial probe and compensation into Karol Bagh hotel fire
·         CM and Home Minister inspect the incident spot and direct strict action
·         CM says magisterial probe will cover all angles, including violations
·         Home Minister, Shri Satyendar Jain says prima facie hotel was operating in violation of building laws
Chief Minister, Shri Arvind Kejriwal has announced a compensation of Rs five lakh each to the families of 17 persons who lost their lives due to fire in a private hotel at Karol Bagh in central Delhi early morning.
The Chief Minister said the government has ordered a magisterial inquiry to ascertain the cause of fire and the reasons behind it.
“It is an extremely painful incident and the cause of fire has not yet been ascertained. A magisterial probe is being set-up, which should be able to determine the cause of fire and lapses which could have led to such a painful incident. If there were violations of building bylaws, that will also be under the ambit of this probe. All relevant angles will be brought under the ambit of the probe,” the Chief Minister said.
Before the Chief Minister, the Home Minister, Shri Satyendar Jain inspected the incident spot.
Shri Jain said a bare inspection of the area reveals that most of the buildings in the vicinity have more than four floors and have apparently come up in blatant violation of the building regulations and without the requisite fire safety standards/precautions.
On the directions of the Chief Minister, Shri Jain wrote to the Revenue Minister, Shri Kailash Gahlot for instituting a magisterial inquiry into the matter as to how the hotel building had more than four floors, whether deliberate violations were allowed to allow the building to operate commercially against building bylaws and responsibility be fixed for lapses, which led to such a serious and painful incident.
The Minister has directed the Fire Services Department to carry out an immediate inspection of the buildings in the area having more than four floors and take strict action as per the fire safety standards and guidelines to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future.
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