Five dead as blaze guts two Lucknow hotels, owners booked
Lucknow, June 19: Five persons, including a woman and child, were killed and over a dozen others injured as fire engulfed two hotels here on Tuesday, police said.
The fire broke out at the SSJ International Hotel on Tuesday morning and soon spread to the adjacent Hotel Virat International, gutting both buildings.
Fire tenders were rushed to contain the blaze, but it took more than two hours for the raging flames to be extinguished and at least six firemen were among those injured. Two cars parked in the parking area of one of the hotels were also burnt badly.
Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said the fire started in the basement and soon leaped to the upper floors. Inspector General of Police, Lucknow, Sujit Pandey later said that prima facie, the fire seems to have been triggered by a short circuit.
The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a magisterial probe into the blaze, while cases have also been slapped on the owners of the hotels.
Superintendent of Police, West, Vikas Chandra Tripathi said that after the incident, both SSJ International hotel owner Surendra Jaiswal and Virat hotel owners Arpit Jaiswal and Pratik Jaiswal were absconding.
The district police has ordered a safety audit of all the hotels in the area and sources told IANS that initial investigation has revealed a "whole lot of discrepancies in the two hotels".
The SSJ hotel, which had 42 rooms and a bar, does not have an approved building plan and the 27-room Virat hotel's building plan was approved as a residential premises, officials said.
Meanwhile, Chief Fire Officer A.B. Pandey revealed that there were no fire-fighting equipment installed in both hotels and that SSJ hotel, in fact, had been served a notice last month over its non-compliance of safety standards.
Due to the police recruitment exams, both the hotels were completely sold out.
Tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi meanwhile visited the injured at a medical facility and directed officials to ensure that there was adequate treatment for those injured.
Condition of two injured, who have received serious burn injuries, is critical, said doctors at the Trauma Centre.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed his condolences at the loss of lives in the incident and has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those who were killed and Rs 50,000 each to those seriously injured.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
