New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the national Capital, accusing it of being negligent and avoiding responsibility, a day after a massive blaze at a B&B property in Malviya Nagar claimed 21 lives and left scores injured and battling for life. The grand old party called the incident a “failure” of BJP’s triple engine government.

Targeting the ruling BJP which has a government at the Centre, in the national Capital and also rules the MCD, he called the fire tragedy a “failure” of the “triple engine government”.

Talking to IANS, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said: “Every time there is an incident like this, the same statements are repeated with a few words changed here and there. This illegal activity was not happening in some remote forest, it was happening in the capital of India, right in front of MAX Hospital. Didn’t anyone see that fire safety arrangements were missing and that fire services could not even reach the spot?”

Questioning the authorities, Congress MP Manoj Kumar said: “Now are you awake or not? 21 people have died. I am still seeing that the injured are on ventilators and are struggling between life and death.”

He further questioned who will be held responsible for the loss of 21 lives in the tragedy.

Referring to the deaths of foreign nationals in the inferno, Kumar said: “Globally, our country has been defamed, and international media is reporting it.”

Accusing the government of being negligent, he said: “How did this negligence happen? Why was there no investigation? These are all important issues. The system has failed.”

“Now they are saying that investigation will take place. This should have been done earlier,” he told IANS.

“Both the government and the administration have failed. People’s lives have been taken for granted,” he added.

Echoing a similar view, Congress MLA and Rajasthan Assembly Leader of Opposition, Tika Ram Jully, said: “This is a very serious incident in which foreigners have also been killed. What impact this will have on our country’s image abroad is very significant.”

He, too, questioned the BJP government’s accountability, asking why were the illegally-constructed additional rooms in the hotel allowed to function and why were they not monitored?

“It is a triple-engine government, so what is it doing? If a hotel is being constructed without permission in Delhi itself, then one can only imagine what might be happening in other areas, outside the national Capital,” he added.

Congress leader Abhishek Dutt added: “When the administration failed, the locals in the area risked their lives to help the people. I would like to thank all those unsung heroes who risked their lives to save people from dying.”

He demanded “national recognition” for those who risked their lives in rescue efforts.

On his part, Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra admitted that the property was an “illegal hotel” and an “illegal restaurant”.

“Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has ordered a magisterial enquiry and has also spoken to the hospital authorities. After the Chief Minister’s request, all the injured are being properly treated at the hospital. We are also looking into why this incident happened,” he told IANS.

He added that all illegal hotels will be completely shut down immediately. “Whoever is running such illegal hotels or illegal restaurants should understand that they should shut them down on their own,” he said.

Mishra said that CM Gupta has ordered the Power Department and District Magistrate to immediately shut down any such illegal activities.

–IANS

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