Dhanbad fire tragedy: Jharkhand HC orders time-bound fire safety audit for entire state

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], February 2 : Jharkhand High Court on Thursday ordered a time-bound fire safety audit across the state. The court hearing a suo-moto PIL in the Dhanbad fire incident which had claimed 14 lives also asked the state to file detailed report in this matter.
"We will submit a time-bound fire safety audit report of entire state," Advocate General Jharkhand, Rajiv Ranjan told reporters here today.
"The Deputy Commissioner Dhanbad has constituted two committees. One is to find out the cause of the fire and also investigate whether all safety guidelines related to fire safety were fulfilled or not. The second committee will find out the structural damage to the building. We will submit these reports to the court," said Advocate General Jharkhand, Rajiv Ranjan.
"The state government will also inform the court through affidavits about fire safety norms in the state, compliance with maps provided in building bylaws, and compliance with fire safety guidelines by urban municipal bodies," he added.
The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the Dhanbad fire tragedy in which 14 people were charred to death.
The next hearing will be on February 17.
On Tuesday evening, a massive fire had broken out at a residential apartment in Dhanbad which killed 14 people including 10 women, three men and one child while injuring several people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the loss of lives in the devastating fire and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next-of-kin of the deceased.
PM Modi also announced that an amount of Rs 50,000 each has also been sanctioned for the injured in the incident.
SSP Dhanbad Sanjiv Kumar said several people had gathered in the apartment for a marriage function at the time of the blaze.