The recent fire that killed at least 21 people at a Hauz Rani bed-and-breakfast has exposed a web of violations that investigators, officials and locals said appeared to have effectively transformed the building into a death trap.
What was licensed as a six-room bed-and-breakfast was, in reality, operating as a 26-room hotel. The structure never received a sanctioned building plan from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and lacked a mandatory fire safety no-objection certificate (NOC), officials said.
Together, these violations created conditions that turned a fire into one of Delhi’s deadliest fire disasters in recent years.
According to the licence issued by the tourism department, the property was permitted to operate only six rooms – three on the first floor and three on the second. But investigators found that the building had at least 26 rooms spread across a basement, upper floors and the rooftop.
The building’s character, locals and officials said, was not of a residential nature by any means. The building’s facade had been enclosed with toughened glass and much of the structure had been sealed off to maximise commercial space, eating into ventilation.
Fire officials believe those alterations played a crucial role in the scale of the disaster.
AK Malik, chief fire officer of the Delhi Fire Service’s south zone said: “The entire building is like a shaft. It is sealed from all four sides. Even in the front there is a facade, and the windows are sealed. In buildings like these, it often happens that the fire spreads rapidly.”
