TRP Game Zone fire: No details given in RTI reply on officers accountable

Ahmedabad: As the Gujarat high court has continually been admonishing state govt for their inadequacy in administration and inspections for fire safety over the TRP Game Zone fire in a suo motu PIL (public interest litigation), an RTI response from the Rajkot chief fire office has stayed mum on the particulars of the incident and the officials accountable.
Twenty-seven people including four children died in the conflagration that engulfed the gaming zone in the Nana-Mava locality of Rajkot on May 25.
A city-based RTI activist, Bharatsinh Jhala, on May 27 made an RTI application to the Rajkot municipal commissioner’s office, seeking information on the permission given to TRP Game Zone, the name and particulars of the fire officials who inspected it and the details of those who perished.
As part of the first query, Jhala asked for the name of the person who sought permission to start TRP Game Zone and the name of the officer who granted it. Jhala also sought a copy of the permission letter and the particulars of the sanction order.
To both these questions, the reply said no application was registered with the chief fire officer’s office in Rajkot.
The applicant also asked for the names of the area’s fire officer and the particulars of their inspection of TRP Game Zone.
He asked if the fire officer had documented any earlier fire (before May 25) and issued notice to TRP Game Zone. To this, the response said that a station fire officer, Rohit Vigora, was suspended and there were no particulars available about any inspection of TRP Game Zone.
In his next question, Jhala asked for details of the town planning scheme and particulars of the land’s NA (non-agriculture) permission and NOC (no objection certificate). The RTI reply ignored this question.
Jhala said he had submitted the application to the RMC, which should have given the reply. However, they simply forwarded it to the fire department to evade the question.
Jhala also sought the victims’ names and addresses. The response to this was, “This office does not maintain such records”.
Usually, fire departments maintain a record of the victims of fires, Jhala said.
Jhala also sought information on offences lodged against the town planning officer, chief fire officer and any other officer of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation. The respondent said that no such records were available.
As many as 14 govt officials, including eight from the RMC, two from the roads and buildings department and four policemen were suspended. All eight from the RMC’s town planning and fire department were arrested.
Jhala sought details of the fire safety rules and regulations of the union and the state govts. To this, the RTI reply provided a web address of a govt website.
Jhala questioned the RTI response, saying if the govt has been giving these details to the Gujarat high court after being reprimanded, why are they not providing them to a citizen. This raises questions about the govt machinery’s criminal negligence regarding the fire victims, Jhala said.