Groceries in 10 minutes, emergency services in 60: Delhi fire exposes cruel irony
Delhi fire: The rescue operation in the initial minutes at the B&B in Delhi's Malviya Nagar relied heavily on locals who risked their own safety to help those trapped inside. The incident has firmly put scrutiny on the alleged delay by emergency services.
Before writing this article, I had to order some urgent groceries for my mother. Opened Blinkit, and it showed delivery in 10 minutes. Zepto showed delivery in 12. I opted for Blinkit due to the lesser delivery time. At the same time, visuals of the horror that unfolded at a hotel in Delhi played out on my TV screen. It raised a pertinent question. In a country where groceries and fast food can arrive at your doorstep in 10 minutes, why can't life-saving emergency services reach people just as quickly?
The irony came into sharp focus after the massive fire at Flourish Stays, a bed-and-breakfast (B&B) in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar, claimed 21 lives, including 12 foreigners. According to an eyewitness, the fire tenders reached the spot nearly 50-60 minutes after the fire broke out at around 8 am. This, despite the nearest fire station being just three minutes away. By then, the flames had spread rapidly, trapping several people inside.
Had emergency responders reached the spot as swiftly as a 10-minute delivery, could some lives have been saved? Perhaps. But the tragedy cannot be attributed to rescue services alone.
HOW FIRE BROKE OUT AT DELHI'S MALVIYA NAGAR?
The hotel, whose owner has been arrested, was allegedly operating at nearly four times its permitted capacity and had no fire safety clearance. In Delhi, the tourism department is responsible for granting permissions to set up such bed-and-breakfast facilities. Thus, government oversight was also a factor.
Especially, considering how some of the recent deadliest blazes in Delhi, from coaching centres to hospitals, have exposed gaps in adhering to fire safety rules and lax inspections by departments.
On Wednesday, as the fire, caused by a short circuit, broke out in the congested Press Enclave Road area, in the first crucial minutes, it was the locals who led the rescue efforts, risking their own lives to evacuate the trapped.
Time was at a premium as the blaze, which started from the ground floor of the B&B, where its kitchen and cafeteria were located, quickly spread to other floors of the five-storey building.
The hotel was a much sought-after place for tourists as well as foreign nationals, as it was close to three major hospitals - AIIMS, Max Hospital, and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital.
Several residents said the rescue efforts in the initial minutes relied heavily on locals.
"Fire brigade nehi abhi tak, kitna ghatiya service hai. Sirf ambulance aayi hai. Bohut log andar trapped hai (The fire brigade still hasn't arrived. What terrible service this is. Many people are trapped inside)," a person can be heard saying in a viral video.
DELAYED RESPONSE BY FIRE BRIGADE?
The delay in the arrival of the emergency services has become a political flashpoint.
From eyewitness accounts and videos available, here is what we could gather on the sequence of events. The fire was first spotted at around 8 am. The fire brigade was reportedly alerted around the same time, locals said.
Till 8.15 am, no help arrived. The locals took the matter into their own hands to rescue the people.
Visuals playing out on news channels showed locals breaking glass windows, spreading mattresses for those forced to jump from windows, and administering CPR to unconscious victims. There was no moment to spare as the blaze was spreading by the minute.
The Delhi government claimed the police were informed only at 8.48 am. The fire department also denied allegations of any delay.
"We received a call at 8.50 am, and immediately rushed seven vehicles to the spot. There was no delay from the fire department," a Delhi Fire Service officer told PTI.
The police also said they launched a rescue operation immediately after the PCR call was received.
The troubling question here is why the fire department and the police were waiting for a call. They claimed they were alerted around 8.50 am. That's 50 minutes since the blaze started in their backyard. It's perplexing how none noticed the giant-sized inferno and the thick black smoke billowing from a spot just three minutes away.
AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj questioned the government's narrative, wondering how the first fire brigade vehicle reached the spot only at 9 am - an hour after the blaze.
"When people were already attempting rescue and spreading mattresses, is it possible that neither the police nor the fire brigade had been informed?" Bharadwaj said.
"This is despite the fact that the fire station is located only about three minutes away from the site, along with the Malviya Nagar Police Station," he further said.
A quicker response time could perhaps have saved more lives. It could have prevented those who jumped to their deaths from upper floors or those who died suffocating inside the B&B.
While instant delivery platforms have brought convenience in everyday life, the Delhi blaze is a stark reminder of the gaps that still plague emergency services despite such technological advancement.