Who To Blame

“It’s a diamond isle of paradise beneath a black sky!
Welcome to a crisp Italian January!
We’re so much more than lavish travelers now…
We’ll go down in history.”
-Rebecca McNutt

The port city Surat, popular for diamond cutting and polishing, was busy in its daily chores when on May 25, 2019 , fire broke out at a commercial complex in Sarthana area around 3:45 in the afternoon. This incident was the result of gross negligence, sheer incompetence and shows how remarkably ineptitude the officials and the individuals have been.

This incident reminds me of the Karol Bagh incident in which a fire began at a budget hotel in Central Delhi, the Hotel Arpit Palace on 12 February 2019, killing at least 17 people. But do these incidents have something in common? Yes they have. Both the incidents were the consequences of illegal construction and lack of fire fighting equipment. People jumped from the windows to save their lives which further increased the death toll. But who should be blamed for all this? Who are the real culprits? The inflammable material used in building, the staff’s inability to fight the flames, lack of additional doorways and stairways or the government which after all those years and all those incidents have not been able to cope up with such kind of situations effectively. The degree of success is still zero.

The 2004 Kumbakonam school fire accident is another such casualty which should have been treated as a wake-up call but it wasn’t. 94 students of a primary school died as the fire occurred on the thatched roof structure of the school. The thatches and the supporting bamboo poles, overcrowded school, narrow staircases were the secondary factors that lead to an increase in the death toll.

The most popular steps taken after these incidents have been giving ex-gratia amount and suspending the officials. But where have these steps taken us? We must stop expecting the government to play the role of national transformation while we sit down and watch. When you fold your arms and not do anything, you are not allowed to blame those in power. Buildings should be constructed with adequate in-built fire protection systems. Goods should be stored tidily so that they do not hinder the access of firefighter to the sight. The individuals should be given proper training to deal successfully in these circumstances.

Marty Rubin said, “The tree that gets hit by lightning is the one you remember.” The fire incident of Surat is the tree which needs to be remembered, not for the casualty that happened, but for those precious lives which could have been saved if previous fire disasters would have been taken as a red flag. In devastation there is an opportunity. Opportunity to come up together and construct a holistic approach to avoid these accidents.