Chandni Chowk fire: LG orders panel to probe incident, suggest corrective steps

According to an order issued by the home department on December 9, the committee will seek suggestions from residents, market associations

Lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena issued orders for the constitution of a committee comprising 11 senior officials from the government and agencies such as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, police, fire department, National Disaster Response Force and the electricity department to probe the cause of the fire at Bhagirath Place last month and make suggestions to prevent similar incidents in the future, officials aware of the matter said on Wednesday.

On November 24, a fire had broken out at Bhagirath Place in Chandni Chowk. The fire raged on for at least 15 hours and gutted nearly 150 shops. (ANI)

They added the committee has to submit its report within 30 days. According to an order issued by the home department on December 9, the committee will seek suggestions from residents, market associations and also probe if any disciplinary action is to be instituted against any employee in connection with the fire.

The 11 members of the committee are – managing director of Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation, joint commissioner of police(central range), district magistrate(central zone), deputy commissioner(MCD), PWD engineer in chief, director(fire service), DIG of NDRF, representative of BSES Yamuna Power Ltd, Member DUSIB, representative of Indraprastha Gas Ltd(IGL), general secretary of Confederation of All India Traders(CAIT).

On November 24, a fire had broken out at Bhagirath Place in Chandni Chowk. The fire raged on for at least 15 hours and gutted nearly 150 shops. At least four buildings also collapsed during the fire. Besides this, the fire also impacted the structural safety of some other buildings in the market, which tilted or developed cracks. The fire department had to use at least 80 fire tenders for fire-fighting. According to officials of the fire department, the fire spread quickly because the shops were built close together in narrow lanes and vehicles of the fire department were unable to enter the area. Traders had said that goods worth several crores were damaged in the fire.

This was second such major fire incident in the Chandni Chowk area in recent months with another major blaze reported in Kucha Mahajani market in early September.