Jharkhand fire incident: HC issues directions for fire safety audit in state, next hearing on Feb 17

• The Jharkhand HC today directed the state government to conduct a fire safety audit across the state
• At least 24 people have died in the past 12 days in various fires in Jharkhand
• An Advocate with his junior informed the court during the hearing that two committees have been constituted to probe the entire incident

The Jharkhand High Court today directed the state government to conduct a fire safety audit across the state. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Deepak Roshan gave the direction while taking suo moto cognizance in the Dhanbad fire case that burnt 14 to death on January 31 night.

Earlier, the division bench asked the state government about the action taken in the matter till date and directed the urban development secretary to file an affidavit in the matter, verbally observing that the incident was unfortunate and a proper inquiry was required in the matter. 

Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan and his junior Piyush Chitresh informed the court during the hearing that two committees have been constituted to probe the entire incident. Along with this, Ranjan informed the court that the DCs and SPs of all districts of the state have also been instructed to review fire safety norms.

Notably, at least 24 people have died in the past 12 days in various fires in Jharkhand. Every time there is a devastating fire, the state government issues a directive to conduct a fire audit and forgets to follow it. Even when the fire department files a report, it gets swept under the rug.

For example, in 2016, the then Chief Secretary (CS) Sudhir Tripathi ordered a fire safety audit of all hospitals, including private nursing homes and medical college hospitals, and implemented the reports after the SUM Hospital Bhubaneswar (Oshisha) fire in 2016 in which 20 patients died and several injured. Earlier in 2011, the then Chief Secretary had directed a fire safety audit of all hospitals/nursing homes in the state following the AMRI Hospital Kolkata fire in which 89 patients died and over 100 were injured.

The state government again issued a similar order in 2021 when 10 patients were killed in a fire at Mumbai's Covid Hospital on 26 March 2021. Official sources said a fire safety audit was conducted whenever the directive was issued and a report duly submitted, but no action was ever taken to compel hospitals to implement it.