27 more hotels to shut down in Karol Bagh

NEW DELHI: Continuing the crackdown on hotels and guesthouses violating fire safety norms, the government cancelled the fire safety certificates of 27 establishments in Karol Bagh late on Friday night.

Earlier in the day, the certificates of 30 hotels were revoked. “In all, NOCs of 57 hotels out of the 80 inspected have been cancelled so far. All of them will be closed now,” Delhi home minister Satyendar Jain tweeted.

Following the fire at Karol Bagh’s Hotel Arpit Palace that had killed 17 people on early Tuesday, the AAP government ordered the inspection to find out if the hotels and guesthouses across the city are enforcing the fire safety norms. The fire department has found various violations such as absence of fire safety equipment, non-functioning safety exits, narrow staircases and use of inappropriate or combustible material in hotel passages.

North Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner Varsha Joshi said the civic body had already started the process of cancelling the licence of the establishments after receiving the information from the government. “The public health department cancelled licence of most of them on Friday itself. The action against the new batch will be completed by Monday,” she said.

However, though a corporation inquiry has found negligence on the part of the fire department and the guesthouse-owner for running a restaurant on the terrace without permission, no action has been taken against any civic official yet.

More guesthouses and hotels in the capital may face the similar fate with the inspection to cove the whole city. The Karol Bagh area alone — from Gurudwara Road to Gaffar Market — has 380 guesthouses, said a fire department official. “We will survey all these places one by one. Afterwards, other areas popular for guesthouses such as Paharganj and Mahipalpur will be targeted,” he said.