Rajkot fire: Six officials, including two policemen, suspended for negligence
The Gujarat High Court asked if the state government and local authorities had turned a blind eye to violations.
The Gujarat government on Monday ordered the suspension of six officials in connection with the fire at a gaming arcade in Rajkot that killed 33 persons, reported PTI.
Four of those who have been suspended are civic officers, while two are police inspectors.
The government said in a press release that the officials were found responsible for “gross negligence in allowing this game zone to operate without necessary approvals”.
“The game zone had received permissions from the roads and buildings department,” Rajkot Police Commissioner Raju Bhargava told reporters on Sunday. “It had also submitted a proof of fire safety equipment to obtain the fire no objection certificate which was under process and not yet completed.”
Suspension orders have been issued for Jaideep Chaudhary, an assistant engineer in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation’s town planning department, along with assistant town planner Gautam Joshi, two deputy executive engineers – MR Suma and Paras Kothiya – in the municipality’s roads and buildings department and two police inspectors, VR Patel and NI Rathod.
The fire broke out on Saturday evening at a temporary structure at the TRP Game Zone in Rajkot. While locals said that the blaze spread quickly following a short circuit in an air conditioner, officials said a more detailed investigation was required.
The police have arrested the owner of the gaming zone, Yuvraj Hari Singh Solanki, and its manager, Nitin Jain.
On Sunday, the Gujarat High Court said that, on a preliminary reading, it seemed that the fire appeared to have been a man-made disaster.
A bench of Justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai expressed shock at media reports, saying that temporary tin structures had been set up at the gaming zone to circumvent restrictions.
The court said that apart from Rajkot, such establishments had also been set up in Ahmedabad and that they posed risks to safety.
On Monday, when the matter again came up for hearing, the court said it did “not trust” the state government anymore, reported NDTV.
“Have you gone blind?” the court asked. “Did you fall asleep? Now we do not trust the local system and the state.”
The court asked whether state and municipal authorities “turned a blind eye” towards alleged violations of rules.
The state government has set up a special investigation team to probe the incident.
