The Uttar Pradesh government will demolish the three-storied building in Lucknow's Aliganj where 17 people, including several students, had died in a fire on Monday if its owners do not respond to a notice within 15 days.
Prathamesh Kumar, vice-chairman of Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), said: "The owners of the building are expected to respond to our notice within 15 days, else we may start the process to demolish it. We are also inspecting other coaching centres and hospitals and taking action against those which don’t follow the safety norms."
Aliganj resident Arvind Kumar said the government launches similar drives after such incidents and seals some buildings. "Still, soon we see that the locked buildings are unlocked and all activities resume as usual. A hotel had caught fire in Lucknow two years ago and several people had died there. But even that hotel was opened last year. Those who were arrested got bail after three months. We don’t know the status of the case," Kumar said.
Panchayati Raj minister O.P. Rajbhar said: "The building in Aliganj was constructed illegally, and all fire- and safety-related norms were violated. The LDA had served a notice to raze it in 2016 but the then Samajwadi Party government didn’t take further action against it. They must explain why they did this."
Reacting to the allegation, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who was the chief minister in 2016, said: "There has been a BJP government in the state for the last 10 years but they didn’t take any action against the structure. The current government is responsible for the incident.
"Who are the people who are taking bribes to give fire NOCs to such buildings? And with whom do they share the bribe money? It appears that there was no government in the state in the last 10 years. Corruption has taken over the state," said the SP chief.
Four owners of the building were arrested on Tuesday.