E-Paper
Fire deaths: GDA finds family was residing illegally
Ghaziabad: Three persons, including the 48-year-old supervisor of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), who were charred to death in a flat at Pratap Vihar
Ghaziabad: Three persons, including the 48-year-old supervisor of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA), who were charred to death in a flat at Pratap Vihar on Tuesday, were residing there in an “unauthorised manner”, officials said on Wednesday. Now, the GDA vice-chairperson has ordered a physical verification of vacant flats in all schemes of the authority and to get them vacated if occupied.
On Tuesday evening, GDA supervisor Bacchu Singh, his 42-year-old wife Shakuntala Singh and brother Narayan Singh, 35, died during a fire incident and their charred bodies were found in one of the rooms of the flat which they had occupied in authority’s scheme at Pratap Vihar. The family had been residing in the flat for the past five-six months, the officials said.
“After checking our records, we found that the flat in which the supervisor was found dead was not allotted to anyone. There is also a litigation going on in connection with the scheme. So, in a way, the family was residing in the flat in an unauthorised manner. We have asked his children to contact us so that his eldest son gets a job in his place,” said Kanchan Verma, authority’s vice-chairperson.
“Further, I have directed the chief engineer to scan all the vacant flats in our scheme which may similarly be occupied by unauthorised occupants. The teams will check and drive out such occupants and get the flats sealed,” she added.
Officials of the authority’s engineering department said that a similar drive was carried out last year and about 45-50 such families were driven out of the GDA flats which were occupied illegally.
“The drive was carried out last year and all the illegal occupants were vacated and flats were locked. All the flats in the Pratap Vihar scheme are vacant and not allotted to anyone so far due to pending litigation. We will check the society as well,” said VN Singh, authority’s chief engineer.
Deceased supervisor Bacchu Singh, who was serving in Vijay Nagar zone of the authority’s engineering department, is survived by three children, including a daughter. The GDA officials said that all the staff members contributed privately to help them out at the earliest and departmental benefits will also be given to the family.
The post mortem reports of the charred bodies have revealed that the three died of asphyxia and anti mortem burns, sources in the health department said. “The post mortem reports suggest that they inhaled some poisonous gas like carbon monoxide and went unconscious. Later, the fire, probably caused by a short circuit, burnt down their bodies. The autopsy suggests that the burns were anti mortem. There were no signs of electrocution,” the sources said.
