The Fire Department claimed that there was a delay of more than an hour in calling the authorities after Hotel Arpit Palace caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday.
“The fire started around 2.30 a.m.- 3 a.m., but the hotel staff made the call around 4.30 a.m. They first tried to douse the flame themselves. If they had called us before, there might have been less casualties,” claimed Deputy Chief Fire Officer Sunil Chawdhary.
The officer also said that it is suspected that the hotel also flouted fire safety norms by installing a wooden staircase and fibre-laden walls across four floors which led to the fire spread, preventing people on the upper floors to reach the exit on the ground floor. “They had a No-Objection Certificate from the Fire Department but it seems they did a few renovations after getting the NOC. The matter will be investigated,” he said.
Recalling the hours of rescue operation, Mr. Chawdhary said that as the fire spread in the staircase and corridors, the team could not get inside the hotel where guests were trapped. “We used the hydraulic lifts to rescue people from top floors. The team could only go inside once the fire was doused,” he said.
When the officers went inside, many people were found dead. “It seems that they tried to come out of their rooms but went inside because of the smoke. Some of them were found holding hands, some of them [bodies] were found under the table sitting,” he said.
Jammed windows
Mr. Chawdhary claimed that the emergency exit at the back of the hotel could not be opened by guests and they could also not open the windows as they were jammed. “All the windows were tightly closed, therefore, there was no ventilation. When they tried to open, they couldn’t. The fire team broke the windows to rescue people and also opened the emergency exit,” he said.
Initial enquiry by guests and inspection also revealed that the sockets and plug points were loose and sprinklers were either missing or were not functioning, a fire officer said. A fire officer who did not wish to be named also claimed that the hotel was running three kitchens, including one in basement and one on the rooftop which is illegal. The most affected were the third, fourth floors and the rooftop where there was wooden furniture.
Hotel was up for auction
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa said the documents have been seized and whether the restaurants were running legally will be probed. A fire officer also mentioned that they had trouble reaching the spot because the area was barricaded from entry points and they had to remove the barricades themselves as there were allegedly no police officers present at the time.
It has been learnt that the hotel was put up for auction by a State-run bank last year.
