Ghaziabad: Admin orders probe, seeks report in 3 days

A committee has been formed to investigate a fire in Ghaziabad's Gaur Green Avenue high-rise, which damaged multiple flats but caused no casualties.

A day after a massive fire at a high-rise in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram gutted several flats, the district administration formed a committee on Thursday to investigate the incident and submit a report within three days.

The committee includes senior officials from the district administration, fire department, department of electrical safety, and the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA). (Sakib Ali/HT)

“Following the incident, District Magistrate Ravinder Kumar Mandar has formed a committee and sought a report in three days. The committee will inquire into the cause of the fire and other issues that hampered the movement of fire tenders during the firefighting and rescue work. The committee will also suggest measures,” Saurabh Bhatt, additional district magistrate, told HT.

The committee includes senior officials from the district administration, fire department, department of electrical safety, and the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA).

The fire, which broke out on the ninth floor of Gaur Green Avenue on Wednesday morning, gutted at least eight flats and damaged another four-to-six. Firefighters battling the blaze appeared to be slowed by a string of on-ground constraints – from inadequate initial equipment to control a fire raging several floors up, to choked access caused by parked cars and a large park abutting the tower, and delays compounded by peak-hour traffic – all of which, residents of the society alleged, stretched the operation to over two-and-a-half hours before the flames were finally brought under control.

However, there were no casualties with at least 10 people were rescued. Seventeen fire tenders and two hydraulic platforms, besides 70 firemen, were roped in to douse the flames.

Fire department officials said an initial report has been submitted to the headquarters in Lucknow.

“A park in the high-rise prevented the movement of fire tenders and parking in open spaces and setback areas and delayed the firefighting work. Once the committee submits its report, rectification measures and required notices will be served to the concerned parties. The committee will also focus on whether any alterations were made to the building plan approved by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA),” Chief Fire Officer Rahul Pal told HT.

“We have also asked the local RWA to have the structural safety of the damaged flats checked by a government or private agency,” the CFO added.

The Gaur Green Avenue high-rise has 446 flats and is managed by the local residents’ welfare association (RWA). GDA officials requesting anonymity said that the map layout of the high-rise was passed in 2007 and a completion certificate provided in 2009.

“We have also learned that a large religious structure was constructed in the setback area of the high-rise,” an officer from GDA told HT.

When contacted, GDA vice-chairperson Nand Kishor Kalal told HT, “Once the committee gives us a report detailing any encroachment or extra constructions, we will act accordingly.”

Ritesh Satia, the secretary of the Gaur Green Avenue RWA, did not respond to multiple calls and messages regarding the issue.

At a meeting on Thursday, attended by officials from 17 different departments, the DM also “directed to all RWAs that all the fire-safety equipment, firefighting systems and disaster management processes in the high-rises must be fully functional at all times,” Bhatt said.