New Delhi: There are over 1000 guest houses in Paharganj and Karol Bagh areas of the city and most of them were carrying out commercial activities under the garb of hotels, not allowed under the rules, claimed representatives of hospitality industry here late Tuesday night.
A massive fire at ‘Hotel Arpit Palace’ in the wee hours of Tuesday claimed 17 lives in Karolbagh bringing the role of owners of these guest houses and concerned agencies under scanner regarding implementation of existing rules for them.
There are around 800 guest houses in Paharganj and about 250 in Karolbagh that are covered under the ‘Saray Act’ but run as hotels, claimed Arun Gupta, president of Delhi Hotel Mahsangh. “No commercial activity is allowed at these so called hotels, let alone restaurants or bars,” he said.
Gupta alleged that the process of issuing licence to these guest houses was at ‘fault’ since as many as five agencies were involved in it. “They first have to take fire department’s no-objection certificate. Permission is also granted by the local police, excise department of Delhi government, licensing department of Police and the municipal corporations,” Gupta informed. “That also leads to confusion,” he added.
Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners’ Association president Sandip Khandelwal said the guest houses ran in the name and style of hotels by offering three star facilities. “Around 90 per cent of these hotels are guest houses that assume the name of hotel as per their requirements,” he said.
He informed that owner of the Hotel Arpit Palace is out of the country to attend some family function. The hotel was to be auctioned against some bank loan in December last year but it apparently did not happen, he said.
Despite possessing the fire department’s no-objection certificate (NOC), the untrained staff at the hotel could not use the equipment to douse the fire, claimed an official.
“There was wooden cladding all over the stairs and the corridors’ walls, which led the fire to spread all over the hotel premises. The fire had started on the first floor and people got stuck on the corridor. The passage was so narrow that when they started running, a stampede occurred,” chief fire officer Atul Garg said.
“All the casualties were reported from the third and fourth floors as the exit got stuck. There was only one emergency exit which was locked. The windows were automatic and had a push-button system. The staff could not open the windows as they were not aware of this function and the fire-fighters had to break open the glass,” deputy fire officer Sunil Chaudhary stated. “Loss of lives could have been avoided had the staff been trained in fire fighting drills.”
PTI