Trapped residents dial 100 in panic, get no response

RANCHI: There were no fire safety arrangements and emergency exit points for residents at the Kedarnath and Nirmala Roy Apartments where fire broke out on Monday afternoon. This worsened the crisis as people ran in panic, injuring themselves.
The lift did not function because there was no fire, the staircase was full of thick smoke and residents in 16 flats of Block C of the apartment were holed up in their houses.To avoid suffocation, they rushed to balconies.
When residents started dialling 100, 101 and other numbers of the district administration, there was no response. "I dialled 100 nearly 10 times but every time my phone was disconnected from the other end, then I called up Lalpur police station, they also did not respond. As a result, fire-tenders reached the site half-an-hour late," said Vimal Badiyak, a resident of Plaza Chowk.
Meanwhile, as fire spread in the basement engulfing three cars and two scooters, fire extinguishers, ladders and ropes were arranged by the local people and a nearby tent house to douse the fire and carry out the rescue operation to save the residents trapped inside the building.
RMC ward councillor Arvinder Singh Deol said the corporation will ensure that in future whatever building designs are being cleared there are arrangements for fire safety or else occupancy certificates will not be issued. He, too, admitted that there were gross irregularities in the approval plan of the buildings and there was no fire safety system in the apartment.
The two fire tenders which reached first had to deal with traffic jams but somehow they managed to go into the approach road and douse the fire. However, the hydraulic platform of the fire brigade could not reach the spot as the approach road was only 20-feet wide.
Fire fighter havildar Amrit Lal Bhaskar said a 40-feet broad road is needed to make the hydraulic platform reach the spot. "Had that machine reached the spot, the rescue operation could have been carried out more effectively," said Bhaskar.
He added that recently the fire department carried out a survey of different buildings to check fire safety arrangements there and it was found that builders had not undertaken any fire prevention measures since under the existing building by-laws G-plus four storey buildings do not come under "fire zones".
"Incidentally, this building is also ground plus four storey and one can see what has happened due to a simple short circuit. This building had actually faulty designs. There were no alternative exist points and no fire safety arrangements," said Bhaskar.
Madhumita, a resident of Block-A of the building, said two years back, a similar fire broke out in the basement because of a short circuit. But it was tackled effectively.