The death of 21 people in a BnB (bed and breakfast) guesthouse fire in South Delhi brings to the fore sordid tales of greed on the part of builders, negligence on part of authorities and bribes given to those who were supposed to keep a watch.
More than 40 people were injured, many of them still critical. Among those dead were 11 foreign nationals.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta met the injured in hospital. Delhi government has announced it will give Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the families of those killed and Rs 5 lakh to those seriously injured.
The bed-and-breakfast inn was supposed to have six rooms as per the licence issued by Delhi government’s tourism department, but the owner built 25 rooms.
All the glass pane windows were sealed and doors were auto locked when the blaze caused a power cut.
The owner of Flourish Stay inn, Lavkesh Bajaj passed the spot in his car when scores of people were busy saving the lives of those trapped inside. He told police he fled the place out of fear. The manager of the guesthouse has absconded.
Those in the neighbourhood rushed to save the lives of people trapped inside the building which was in flames.
The owner of a mattress shop threw open his store and allowed mattresses to be put on the road so that those trapped inside could jump out.
Delhi minister Ashish Sood announced a magisterial probe to nab those guilty of negligence and flouting of norms.
The ground reality is: there are scores of such multi-storeyed buildings functioning as inns with BnB licence. The owner of Flourish Stay inn Lavkesh Bajaj’s family owns seven such guest houses in the area. They have no NOC from Delhi Fire Service.
The owners of most of these guest houses have shuttered their buildings and fled.
There was rampant construction of such guest houses in the locality and the Municipal Commissioner was unaware, nor did his inspection committees knew such activity was going on. There were no fire safety measures in place and the fire department did not carry out any audit. Foreign nationals were staying in these guest houses, and Delhi Police which was supposed to keep a watch, was unaware.
The conclusion is quite clear. Officials in the concerned departments were hand in gloves with the builders. Stringent action must be taken against those officers who keep their eyes wide shut after taking bribes. If no stern action is taken, none can stop another inferno from taking place.
Will Mamata meet Uddhav’s fate?
Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee has got a rude shock as she watched her party slipping out of her control. On Wednesday, 60 out of 80 MLAs in her party revolted and elected an expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee for the post of Leader of Opposition.
The Speaker of the Assembly immediately recognised Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP. The LoP claimed that Trinamool Congress has not split and that he was the leader of the “real” Trinamool Congress legislature party.
Legislators who were supposed to be close to Mamata Banerjee were seen standing with Ritabrata when he addressed the media.
What will Mamata do now? Why did the rebels describe her as ‘margadarshak’ (guide)? Will Mamata sideline her nephew Abhishek Banerjee? Will Trinamool Congress split into two factions officially? Which faction will get the party’s name and symbol? Will Mamata and her TMC meet the fate of Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena?
In the districts and towns, heads of municipal corporations, city councils and panchayats are leaving the party. Till now, more than a hundred councillors have left. In some places, local leaders handed over the TMC office to BJP and in other places, some local TMC leaders have started returning ‘cut money’ extorted from citizens. Many TMC offices are now locked from outside.
These are signs of a split. That’s why I asked the question: Will Mamata meet the fate of Uddhav Thackeray?
Catch those agents who bring Bangladeshis
Gujarat Police carried out a nightlong Operation Delta Hunt and nabbed more than 700 illegal migrants from Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and other cities.
Of them, more than 200 are Bangladeshis and their nationality has been confirmed. Those nabbed admitted they came from Bangladesh and some of them were carrying Bangladeshi documents. Inquiry is going on about the remaining migrants.
Gujarat Deputy CM Harsh Sanghvi said, nationality of more than 6,000 people is being checked across Gujarat. So far, 362 Bangladeshi migrants have been identified.
Harsh Sanghvi said, illegal migrants will be deported but action will be taken against those who provided them shelter in Gujarat.
From where did these migrants come? There are evidences of illegal migrants coming through West Bengal when Mamata Banerjee was ruling. They procured fake Aadhar and PAN cards by bribing agents. These agents used to procure Indian documents for these migrants.
There is need for stringent action to expose the network of such agents. Their properties must be confiscated and sold, and Bangladeshi illegal migrants must be asked to cross over to their country on their own.
Illegal foreign migrants earn money in India and send to Bangladesh. They also corner social welfare benefits earmarked for Indian citizens. This can be stopped only if there is a crackdown on such agents.