Bringing back tragic memories of the Uphaar Cinema fire which happened 22 years ago in the national capital, the fire incident on Tuesday at Hotel Arpit Palace in the heart of the city, Karol Bagh, throws light on the lax attitude of government and the apathy of agencies.

The government agencies are just indulging in a blame game, but the horrific incident once again proves the necessity of stricter norms.

The tragedy is similar to the Uphaar cinema where the NOC (No Objection Certificate) for fire was with the owners just the same way like this hotel in Karol Bagh has, but the problem just does not finishes there.

Accountability has to be fixed. Multiplicity of agencies is not helping. I believe there should be just this one single centre, which gives all the necessary certificates (required for such establishments). This will be helpful - if a fire incident takes place in the future, then the person (in-charge of the centre) can be held accountable and punished accordingly.

In this incident, the Delhi government announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the families of the victims. Is this a joke? Is a person's life worth 5 lakhs?

In the Uphaar judgment of the Supreme Court, the Delhi government was given `30 crore as a part of the compensation to construct a trauma centre. On November 9th 2016, the government was given the funds. Where is the trauma centre?

Arvind Kejriwal should answer that where is the trauma centre for which the funds have been given to the government three years ago. The centre is supposed to come up in Dwarka.

Except for Uphaar, one can see that there are almost no convictions in fire incidents in our country. This should change. A foolproof policy and vision is required on the part of the government regarding fire safety. A One Stop Centre is the answer to some of the problems. At least, it is something to start with.

The writer is the President of the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).