AAP attacks BJP-ruled municipal corporation over Karol Bagh hotel fire incident

The Aam Aadmi Party Tuesday attacked the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation over the Karol Bagh hotel fire incident in which 17 people were killed.

Saurabh Bhardwaj, the AAP's chief spokesperson, asked as to how the NDMC gave permission to operate the hotel which used fibre in its structure.

"The said hotel had five floors with fibre structure on the top floor. How did the MCD give approval to such a building plan? If no approval was given, how could such a hotel operate? How could they get a certificate from the MCD to operate?" Bhardwaj asked.

He also asked if the Fire Department had inspected the hotel before granting it fire safety certificate.

"Will Delhi ever see a commissioner of MCD or a chief of fire being suspended for such huge loss of innocent human lives?" he asked.

"We have a rotten system of governance in Delhi where the elected city government has no power to even suspend an officer for criminal negligence. It is only the Lieutenant Governor who can take action against the officers. Sadly he has zero accountability," Bhardwaj charged.

The NDMC has ordered a probe into the incident.            

Bhardwaj, an AAP MLA, said the Petitions Committee of Delhi Assembly recently visited a private school and found that it had constructed basement and a fourth floor illegally.

"As per records of the MCD and the Fire Department, the school did not have basement or fourth floor. The fourth floor was made of exactly the same fiber material which was used at the hotel of Karol Bagh," he claimed.

He said no action could be taken against the school due to the "sad state of affairs" wherein the elected government had no power to punish guilty officials.