After Goa, now Delhi: The deadly cost of single exits, missing NOCs and a ‘sab chalta hai’ culture

NEW DELHI: Six months apart, two deadly incidents in two different cities have exposed a chillingly familiar pattern. In Goa, a venue with blocked exits, cramped access points and inadequate ventilation became the site of a tragedy that claimed 25 lives. This week, a devastating fire at a hotel in Delhi's Malviya Nagar that claimed 21 lives has once again raised uncomfortable questions about safety norms, emergency preparedness and whether warnings from past disasters are being ignored.The trigger may have been different. The vulnerabilities were not.In both cases, people found themselves trapped in enclosed spaces where escape was difficult and rescue efforts were hampered — a stark reminder that when safety measures exist only on paper, emergencies can quickly turn fatal.In Delhi, cops say a single entry-exit point, sealed windows and the absence of mandatory fire clearances transformed a routine building into a death trap. The common thread running through both incidents is not merely negligence but a larger pattern of safety norms that exist on paper while enforcement remains weak.The Flourish Stay property, where 21 people lost their lives, was licensed under Delhi's Bed and Breakfast scheme for six rooms.Cops now say it was operating around 25 rooms, including accommodation in the basement. Officials have also said the building did not possess a mandatory fire no objection certificate despite allegedly exceeding the height threshold that required one.As the investigation deepens, the fire is increasingly being viewed not as an isolated accident but as the culmination of multiple failures — regulatory, structural and administrative.What police have uncovered so far paints a disturbing picture. Windows and glass panels were allegedly sealed shut, preventing smoke from escaping. The basement entrance was reportedly locked from the inside. Rescue teams had to cut through an iron mesh barrier before reaching trapped occupants. There was no emergency exit. Staircases were obstructed. Ventilation was inadequate. Every layer of the building appears to have worked against evacuation rather than facilitating it.The result was devastating. Once the fire broke out, smoke spread rapidly through the structure. Former fire officials have described such buildings as vertical shafts where heat and smoke can engulf multiple floors within seconds, leaving occupants with almost no time to react. But the questions do not stop at the building itself.How did an establishment licensed for six rooms allegedly operate 25 rooms without attracting scrutiny? How did additional floors come up over the years? Why was a commercial-scale operation functioning under a residential Bed and Breakfast licence? How did a property allegedly operating beyond permissible limits continue to function without a mandatory fire clearance?The answers may lie in the gaps built into the system itself.A morning of panicThe first distress calls reached Delhi Fire Services and local police around 8.48am.Within minutes, authorities dispatched eight fire tenders, high-capacity water bowsers and specialised quick-response vehicles equipped with ventilation fans and cutting tools. First responders arrived around 8.55am but met a logistical nightmare..The ground floor was engulfed in flames. The terrace was locked. Thick smoke had spread through multiple floors. Narrow lanes and haphazardly parked vehicles prevented emergency equipment from reaching the site quickly.Residents stepped in before authorities could fully mobilise. Locals formed human chains, pushed vehicles blocking access routes and cleared space for emergency responders. Others directed ambulances through congested lanes. Only one fire tender could reach the site at a time.Between 9am and 11.30am, the locality effectively transformed into a large-scale rescue zone.Residents watched helplessly as men and women appeared at windows screaming for help. Some attempted to descend using pipes running along the exterior of the building. Others tried smashing glass panes from inside smoke-filled rooms.“There was no way out. The main entrance was engulfed in flames,” said one resident involved in the rescue effort.Several occupants jumped from upper floors.Locals rushed forward carrying mattresses, blankets and bedding to soften their fall. Many survived but suffered fractures and serious injuries.Masked firefighters, police personnel and local residents managed to rescue at least 48 people and rush them to hospitals. Among those injured were 10 police personnel and two firefighters who participated in the rescue operation.By noon, firefighting teams had brought the blaze under control. Officials later found multiple cylinders stored in the basement. Forensic and technical teams are examining evidence from the site.The building that trapped its occupantsAs cops reconstruct the sequence of events, one factor appears repeatedly in witness accounts: the lack of escape options.According to rescuers, the building's design significantly complicated evacuation efforts.Windows were reportedly sealed shut. Some sections contained toughened glass panels that trapped heat and smoke inside. Emergency teams had to break windows from outside to create ventilation channels and rescue routes. The basement lock had to be cut using hydraulic equipment before rescue teams could enter. Firefighters eventually rescued six people trapped there and administered CPR before rushing them to hospitals.Rescuers described conditions where visibility had dropped to nearly zero.Occupants on multiple floors required assistance. Many had become unconscious due to smoke inhalation before rescue teams could reach them.Officials involved in the operation said that while charred bodies were recovered from lower portions of the structure, many victims found on upper floors appeared to have succumbed to smoke inhalation rather than direct burn injuries.Autopsy reports are awaited, but preliminary findings suggest smoke inhalation, respiratory damage and burn injuries among the causes of death.For fire safety experts, these details are critical.Modern fire-safety systems are designed around a simple principle: if one escape route fails, another must be available. Investigators are now examining whether the absence of such redundancy effectively transformed the building into a trap once the ground floor caught fire.Delhi’s B&B policy under scannerThe tragedy has also reignited debate over Delhi’s Bed and Breakfast scheme.Introduced ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the policy was intended to increase accommodation capacity by allowing homeowners to rent a limited number of rooms to visitors while continuing to reside on the premises.The objective was to create affordable accommodation options without transforming residential neighbourhoods into commercial hospitality zones.Police allege the Malviya Nagar establishment may have drifted far from that original vision. Former officials have long warned that some B&B establishments gradually evolved into de facto hotels while continuing to operate under regulatory frameworks designed for much smaller operations.Such transformations raise significant safety concerns.Buildings originally designed for limited residential use may not possess the infrastructure required to safely accommodate significantly larger numbers of occupants. Higher occupancy places greater pressure on evacuation systems, staircases, ventilation networks and emergency response mechanisms.Former Delhi chief fire officer Rajesh Pawar has also pointed to shortcomings in the policy itself, arguing that provisions requiring owners to reside on the premises weakened over time while several critical fire-safety requirements remained advisory rather than mandatory.Police sources have also suggested that changes in licensing procedures reduced the role of police verification, potentially limiting cross-agency oversight.Tourism minister Kapil Mishra has since announced that the Delhi government will withdraw the existing Bed and Breakfast scheme and inspect all registered establishments operating under it.The irony is difficult to miss.Just days before the tragedy, authorities had proposed a revised B&B policy incorporating stricter safety requirements, including smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, CCTV coverage, stronger inspections and powers to cancel registrations for serious violations.‘Delhi mein sab chalta hai’: The mindset behind tragedyAs Cops dug deeper into the case, one statement allegedly made by hotel owner Lavkesh Bajaj stood out.“Delhi mein sab chalta hai.”According to police sources, Bajaj used the phrase while explaining how the property allegedly expanded far beyond what it was originally permitted to operate.Police claim the establishment gradually grew from a six-room B&B into a 25-26-room commercial operation spread across multiple floors, including basement accommodation.Police allege rooms were rented for between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000 a day. Additional income was allegedly generated through a ground-floor restaurant that did not possess permissions to operate as a full-fledged restaurant.Officials further claim Bajaj expanded the building from two-and-a-half storeys to five floors as revenues increased.More troubling for investigators are allegations regarding his conduct after the fire broke out.Police sources claim Bajaj was passing through the area during the rescue operation but did not stop despite noticing the commotion. He was later tracked down and arrested.Investigators are also searching for Jai Mishra, who allegedly managed the establishment’s day-to-day operations and remains absconding. A familiar lessonAmong those killed were visitors from Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Mozambique and Liberia, highlighting the international nature of the tragedy. Several Indian victims belonged to a single family.Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for the injured.Chief minister Rekha Gupta has ordered a magisterial inquiry and announced a citywide crackdown on illegal properties, unauthorised guesthouses and establishments operating in violation of fire safety norms and building by-laws.Yet beyond compensation and inquiries lies a larger concern.Whether it was Goa, a building collapse, a coaching centre tragedy or now Malviya Nagar, the pattern remains disturbingly familiar.The immediate causes differ. The systemic failures often do not.Rules exist. Guidelines exist. Inspections exist.Yet disasters continue to expose the gap between regulation and enforcement.In Malviya Nagar, cops are trying to determine how a building licensed for six rooms allegedly expanded to more than four times its sanctioned capacity, how safety violations went unchecked and why so many people found themselves with no way out when the fire broke out.The answers may determine accountability for one tragedy. They may also reveal why similar warnings continue to go unheeded until disaster strikes.The fire began on a Wednesday morning.The conditions that made it deadly may have been years in the making.