A day after the Delhi government announced the cancellation of the no-objection certificates of 30 Karol Bagh hotels for flouting fire safety norms, Home Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said another 27 hotels’ NOCs were revoked for violating rules.
The drive, which started after a fire at Hotel Arpit Palace in Karol Bagh that killed 17 people on February 12, had led to a total of 57 hotels losing their NOCs from the fire department.
“Yesterday another 27 hotels NoC canceled. In all NoC of 57 hotels out of 80 inspected are canceled. All of them will be closed. [sic],” Mr. Jain said in a tweet on Saturday.
The fire department, during their inspection which began on Wednesday, said it found that 13 out of 23 hotels assessed by it were violating fire safety norms. The following day, 17 hotels out of 22 were found to be violating fire safety rules.
Thirty of them were found to be flouting fire safety norms in one way or another leading to the cancellation of their fire safety certification, he had said.
Mr. Jain had added that the said drive, to identify errant hotels across the Capital and take action against them, would intensify and continue to prevent the recurrence of similar fire incidents.
“We have written to the municipal corporation and the police to take further action and seal the erring establishments,” Mr. Jain had said.
In its report the DFS stated that the hotel management in the case of the Hotel Arpit Palace tragedy was found using carpets and having walls covered with wooden material, which fuelled the flames, the Minister said. A magisterial inquiry into the incident is ongoing, he had added.