Delhi did not learn lessons from 2019 hotel fire that killed 17 people

Strict rules for hotels post Arpit Palace fire led to demolition of floors above 3 for fire permit. Norms rolled back, affidavit system introduced in 2022. NHRC notice, action plan for disaster management suggested after incidents in Delhi.

New Delhi: Six years before the Hauz Rani incident, a similar fire at Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh claimed the lives of 17 people, had then prompted authorities to introduce strict rules governing hotels – one such provision required all floors above the third be demolished to get a fire permit – but these norms were rolled back three months later.

Six years before the Hauz Rani incident, a similar fire at Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh claimed the lives of 17 people (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

“The fire department cannot issue an NOC to any guest house or lodging facility that has more than four floors, does not have ventilation in each floor, corridor, passage or does not submit a blueprint of every floor to the department,” read a May 2022 order.

But in September 2022, the government ordered that the fire department would no longer insist on demolition of the fourth floor and above for issuance of NOC and introduced an affidavit-based mechanism asking agencies to just obtain an “affidavit from the hotel owners that such spaces will not be used for any use which violates norms.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the matter, the National Human Rights Commission had also issued a notice on December 9, 2019, to the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MOHUA). A senior municipal official said that an interdepartmental committee headed by the Chief Town Planner (CTP) had submitted an action plan. A municipal official who was part of this committee said that the remedial action plan included identifying vulnerable areas and formulating detailed disaster management plans for pilot areas. “In the residential areas with dense population, we suggested development of fire hydrant systems with common water tanks, alteration of the width of roads at key intersection points to allow movement of fire tenders, urgent tackling of unauthorised constructions among other measures,” the official said, requesting anonymity. The official said that the action plan was presented to seek feedback from the government.

Similarly, the inferno in North Delhi’s Anaj Mandi in December 2019 left 43 people dead when a workshop producing bags and shoes caught fire, triggering much outrage.

The Anaj Mandi case highlighted the mushrooming of illegal factories, and rapid unplanned urbanisation has led to the setting up of such tinderboxes in various parts of the city.

The interventions were expected to be implemented in areas like Anaj Mandi and Sitaram Bazar on a pilot basis to develop them as model areas, but even the pilot projects have not been initiated. A former official from the Delhi Fire Services, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Delhi has large-scale unauthorised construction and vulnerable areas where even fire tenders cannot enter. “Committees were also formed after Anaj Mandi and Arpit cases, but nothing concrete came out of them and ultimately the regulations were diluted,” the official said.