Lucknow, 23 June (HS): Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a

high-level meeting late last night regarding the Aliganj fire incident. He

ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to identify the

culprits. A named FIR has been registered against six people at the Aliganj

police station, and four of them have been arrested. The SIT, formed on the

CM's instructions, includes Amrit Abhijat, Additional Chief Secretary of the

Culture Department, and Praveen Kumar, ADG Zone, Lucknow. The investigation

team will submit its report to the CM within seven days. Four officials have

also been suspended with immediate effect, also on the Chief Minister's

instructions. Those found prima facie guilty include Gaurav Kumar, Excise

Collection (Electricity Department), Jankipuram; Kamalendra Kumar Singh, FSSO

(Fire Department), Indira Nagar; Anil Kumar, AE, LDA; and Pramod Pandey,

JE-LDA.

On Monday night, police arrested the building owner,

Virendra Prasad Shukla, a resident of Madeyganj, the pet shop owner,

Ramakrishna Upadhyay, a resident of Aliganj, the animation center operator,

Tushouk Krishna Jaiswal, a resident of Balaganj, and the tenant, Suresh Kumar

Shahu, a resident of Keshavnagar, Madiyanv. The search for Dhirendra Shukla and

Surendra Shukla, the accused named in the FIR, is ongoing.

No culprit will be spared: According to Joint Police

Commissioner (Law and Order) Bablu Kumar, based on the complaint of Purnia

outpost in-charge Shubham Tiwari, a case has been registered against six named

and other unidentified individuals under various sections of the BNS and

Section 6/10 of the Uttar Pradesh Fire Services Act. The role of other individuals

involved in the case is being investigated. No culprit will be spared.

Six hours after the accident, LDA suspended two engineers and

formed an inquiry committee: Nearly six hours after the Aliganj fire that

claimed the lives of 15 people, the LDA suspended two engineers and submitted

their report to the government. While many more senior officials are yet to

face action, they are currently being treated with leniency. Action against

them will be taken after the report of a five-member inquiry committee. The

committee will submit its report in three days.

LDA VC Prathamesh Kumar stated that Assistant Engineer Anil

Kumar and Junior Engineer Pramod Kumar Pandey have been suspended and a report

has been sent to the government for negligence in taking action against illegal

buildings in Aliganj. Action will be taken against others as well. These two

have been suspended because they have been posted in the Aliganj area for the

longest time since 2016. Therefore, after a preliminary investigation, they

have been suspended. Action will also be taken against those found guilty. A

five-member committee has been formed to investigate the entire matter. It will

submit its report within three days. The committee has been formed under the

chairmanship of Additional Secretary Gyanendra Verma. Chief Town Planning

Officer K. Gautam, Chief Engineer Manvendra Singh, Executive Engineer

Electrical Mechanical Manoj Sagar, and Aliganj's Property Officer and Special

Officer Ravi Nandan Singh have been appointed as members.

The building involved in the accident was completely

illegal, 16 engineers and officials may face action: The building in Aliganj

where 15 people died in a fire was illegal. Its map was approved by the LDA for

residential purposes, but it was being used for commercial purposes. This has

come to light in the investigation after the fire incident. 16 engineers and

employees of the LDA may face action in this case. An investigation has been

started by the LDA in this regard.

After the accident, it also came to light that the building

was constructed against standards. No fire safety measures were taken in it. The

building didn't even have any emergency exit for fire safety. Thus, the

building was constructed completely against standards. According to LDA

records, the building where the accident occurred, built on the land of house

number MS-103 in Aliganj Sector D, was allotted to Vijay Kumar Sahay, son of

Rameshwar Sahay, in July 1980. Its plot area is 1992 square feet.

In the year 2005, this land was sold to Virendra Pratap

Shukla and Surendra Pratap Shukla in the year 2013. After this, they got it

registered in their names in LDA in the year 2014. After getting the name

transfer done, Virendra Pratap Shukla applied for automatic map approval scheme

and stated in it that he would build a house there to live in. An affidavit was

also given by him for this but the opposite was done. The building was used for

commercial purposes instead of residential purposes.

Investigation begins to identify the culprits: On the

instructions of the LDA VC, an investigation is underway to investigate how the

residential map was used for commercial purposes after it was approved. Records

from the enforcement department to the map cell will be examined. Details are

being collected about the engineers and officers who were responsible for

monitoring this area since 2014. A report will also be sent to the government.

Sources say that 16 engineers and officers may face action in this case.

Fire breaks out in coaching centre, 15 students dead: 15

students who were taking coaching and doing animation course died in a fire in

a building located in Aliganj. Many students were seriously burnt. Nine

students who jumped from the building to save their lives are seriously

injured. On receiving information about the accident, Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath left his visit to Aligarh and returned and inspected the spot.

Defence Minister and MP of the capital Rajnath Singh has also left for Lucknow.

The fire is suspected to have been caused due to short circuit and bursting of

AC compressor.

A pet shop is located on the ground floor of a building. The

pet shop owner's warehouse is located on the first floor. On the second floor,

there was a 3D animation training center and a gaming zone, along with coaching

for students up to 12th grade. According to the police, a fire

suddenly broke out in the warehouse around 2:30 in the afternoon. Within

minutes, the fire spread throughout the building. Many people inside were

trapped in the raging fire.

The students present on the second and third floors were

trapped inside. On receiving the information, the police and the fire brigade

along with the SDRF started the rescue work, but by then it was too late.

During the rescue operation which lasted for about two hours, 15 bodies were

taken out. Many burnt students have been admitted to the hospital. The

condition of many of them is critical.

At the time of the accident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

was addressing a public meeting in Aligarh. On receiving the information, the

Chief Minister left the meeting and immediately returned. On his instructions,

Principal Secretary Home Sanjay Prasad, DGP Rajiv Krishna, DG Fire Sujit

Pandey, Police Commissioner Amarendra Sengar and many other officers reached

the spot. Relief and rescue work continued till late night.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi