UP: Couple, three minor daughters killed in Kanpur building blaze
Kanpur (PTI): A couple and their three minor daughters died in a blaze that broke out in a five-storey building in Chamanganj area here, police said on Monday.
Huge flames engulfed the entire building in the Prem Nagar area that houses shoe manufacturing units on its first and second floors, they said.
The bodies of Mohammad Danish 45, his wife Nazneen Saba, 42, were retrieved from the fourth floor at around 1:00 am, while those of their daughters -- Sara, 15, Simra, 12, and Inaya, 7, -- were found on the same floor at around 6:00 am, said Additional DCP (Central) Rajesh Srivastava.
It took firefighters several hours to gain access to the fourth floor, officials said, adding the victims were taken to the Ursula Horseman Memorial Hospital, where the doctors declared them brought dead.
According to police, the neighbours noticed huge flames and thick smoke emanating from the building on Sunday night and alerted the fire department and police.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Seesmau) Manjay Singh said an investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the fire.
Preliminary probe suggests that the fire started in the basement and engulfed the first and second floors before being noticed by the neighbours, the ACP added.
"Initial suspicions point towards a possible short circuit or faults in the internal wiring, potentially originating from the floors where the shoe factory was operating," the ACP said.
"The fire led to blasts in a couple of domestic LPG cylinders that worsened the situation," he added.
State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams were also called to help the firefighters in the relief operations to extinguish the blaze completely, said ACP (Colonelganj) TB Singh.
"People from over half a dozen neighbouring buildings were evacuated to ensure their safety,” he added.
The officials have been instructed to investigate the building's legality and fire safety status and take action accordingly, a senior official said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
