Delhi fire: Beyond Flourish Stay, safety concerns remain

Barricades mark the alleys all across the neighbourhood at Malviya Nagar’s Hauz Rani. Overlooking the magnificent structure of a swanky, modern private hospital, a grim picture presents itself in the form of Malviya Nagar’s cramped streets. The unsupervised urban growth in the South Delhi colony is evident through the structures that have sprung up visibly at odds with all construction norms.

Flourish Stay, the bed-and-breakfast (B&B) where the tragedy unfolded on Wednesday, is in tatters, even as many other similar establishments remain standing.

Right next to Flourish Stay is a hotel, which follows a similar floor plan. Now shuttered, a clear demarcation prevails, with one of the doors leading to a basement littered with rooms on either side, while the other door leads to the reception.

Violation of norms

The similarity extends beyond the hotel’s use of the basement for housing guests. A cursory glance is enough to tell that it, too, like Flourish Stay, lacks a proper fire exit. However, it is not just the two that were found flouting clear fire safety norms that ended up putting the lives of 48 people in danger.

At Flourish Inn, another establishment owned by Lovekesh Bajaj, the owner of Flourish Stay, appeared to be flouting the same norms. Patriot surveyed the premises and found the basement marked with scraps left by the staff and the medical tourists staying there. Discarded bottles, an empty kitchen, and prescriptions of medicines are all that is left at the premises, which had been vacated almost entirely.

‘Need for better facilities’

The lone guest, an Estonian national who was in the process of shifting to another hotel, said on the condition of anonymity, “The government should make better accommodations for medical tourists. If that happened or the hospitals took charge, then we would not have to pay with our lives by staying in these buildings.”

Several area residents spoke about the unregulated spurt in construction over the past couple of years.

“We used to complain earlier, but then our landlord started threatening us that they would throw us out if we went on protesting,” said Meena Devi, a tenant.

‘Another project on’

Pointing at two other buildings in the back alley leading up to Flourish Stay, Devi said that Bajaj had already started constructing another hotel beside a gym.

The five-storey building was heavily crowded at the time of the incident, and a significant majority of the deceased—at least 17 to 18 individuals—were foreign nationals, including citizens from African countries, Turkmenistan, and Bangladesh.

Emergency response teams and local residents managed to rescue more than 40 people from the structure. Because the building featured a glass exterior and was sealed with only a single staircase, smoke quickly filled the interior like a chimney, trapping occupants inside and forcing several people to jump from the upper floors onto mattresses placed on the road by neighbours.

Subsequent investigations by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Delhi Fire Services revealed severe safety lapses.

The establishment was operating without a valid fire no-objection certificate (NOC) and had a locked terrace door.

Also Read: Malviya Nagar fire: initial probe highlights violations, single entry/exit

Furthermore, while the property possessed government approval to run only six rooms under a bed-and-breakfast policy, it was illegally operating roughly 20 to 25 rooms, including illegal extensions into the basement.