Aftermath of Rajkot Game Zone Fire: Gujarat Police Cracks Down on Illegal Facilities

In response to the Rajkot game zone fire tragedy, which claimed 27 lives, Gujarat Police have launched a crackdown on illegal game zones. Minister Harsh Sanghavi directed police to register FIRs against facilities operating without proper fire and safety licenses. Multiple illegal game zones in Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Surat have been sealed.

In the aftermath of the Rajkot game zone fire tragedy, Gujarat Police has launched a crackdown and booked owners of 18 such recreation facilities which are allegedly operated without valid permissions, officials said on Wednesday.

Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, on Tuesday, directed all police commissioners and superintendents of police to register FIRs against the managements of illegal game zones after holding a meeting with state DGP Vikas Sahay and other senior officers in Gandhinagar, an official release said.

At least 27 persons, including children, were killed in a massive fire at TRP Game Zone on May 25. Sanghavi instructed the police officers to register FIRs against the owners of the game zones running without fire NOCs or other mandatory licenses and permissions, it stated.

In Rajkot city, police sealed eight game zones, including a water park, and registered cases against their owners for operating without any permission, police said, adding FIRs were registered under section 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC and under provisions of the Gujarat Police Act.

In Ahmedabad, police sealed four such illegal game zones and filed cases against their owners on Tuesday, said police commissioner GS Malik.

''As per the law, game zones are first required to take various NOCs regarding fire safety as well as electrical and mechanical safety. They need to get permission from the police by showing these NOCs. None of these four game zones had acquired our permission before starting their operations,'' said Malik.

In Surat, a total of six game zones situated in Rander, Pal, Umara and Vesu areas were sealed and complaints were registered against their owners for running these facilities without valid permissions, police said.

The Rajkot fire incident is being probed by the Special Investigation Team set by the state government and the city police, who have arrested five persons so far.

In a related development, the Rajkot collector said that the DNA samples of all the victims have been matched with their relatives.

Notably, the Gujarat High Court on Monday pulled up the Rajkot civic body over the purported lapses in the functioning of the game zone facility where a massive fire killed 27 persons.

A special bench of Justices Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai had asked whether the civic body sat over the fire safety orders passed earlier on a PIL for 18 months.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)