PM Modi urges States to conduct safety audit of hospitals as fire accidents rise in India

While chairing a meeting with Chief Ministers on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his concern over the increasing cases of fire accidents in India amid a rise in temperatures. After speaking about the COVID-19 situation, the vaccination drive and fuel prices in the country, PM Modi spoke about the rise in fire accidents, especially at hospitals.

"I want to speak on one more topic. The heat is increasing rapidly in the country," PM Modi said. Expressing his concern over the increase in fire accidents in the country, PM Modi said, "The heat has come before its actual time. In the time of rising heat, we are seeing increasing incidents of fire at different places." He added, "We are seeing the fire accidents in jungles, in important buildings, in hospitals. Some of these incidents of fire have happened in the last few days."

"We all know how painful were those days when last year, we saw fire accidents in several hospitals. That was a really painful situation," PM Modi said while addressing the meeting with Chief Ministers on Wednesday.

"Many people lost their lives in these accidents. I urge all the states that we should conduct the safety audit of hospitals from now on, strengthen the security arrangements," he added.

It is pertinent to mention that PM Modi's statement comes following a rise in fire accidents in India in the last few days. As the temperature is soaring up, with heatwave-like situations in several parts of the country, cases of fire accidents in India have increased. In the latest such incident, a fire broke out on Wednesday at a government hospital in Chennai.

Prime Minister Modi further said that fire accidents should be avoided and response time in such accidents should be minimum to avoid any significant damage. "Keep monitoring into this, so that innocent citizens don’t have to give up their lives to such accidents," PM Modi said.

Chennai Hospital fire

A fire broke out in the Rajiv Gandhi Government hospital in Tamil Nadu's Chennai on Wednesday. The fire that broke out in one of the towers of the government hospital caused panic among patients and their family members. The first phase of the investigation revealed that the fire was caused by some items stored in one of the warehouses in one of the two tower blocks.

Speaking exclusively with Republic on the matter, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said, "Suddenly a fire had broken out at the hospital, following which, all patients, and their families have been evacuated. Firefighters have been bravely trying to contain the fire. We expect the fore to be doused shortly. Several firefighters have been deployed here to tend to the fire."

He added, "This is an incident that took place out of the blue. Regular fire checks have been conducted by the Fire department. When the accident occurred, to ensure that no lives must be in the way of harm, priority action was taken to evacuate patients. 100% hospital officials say there haven't been any casualties...The firefighters have been extremely quick in bringing the fire into control."

Delhi: 4 fire accidents reported on Tuesday

On Tuesday, four fire accidents were reported in Delhi. A massive fire broke out at the Bhalswa landfill site in north Delhi on Tuesday. According to the officials, the fire department received information about the blaze at around 5.47 p.m. on Tuesday, following which 10 fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot. Initially, there was only smoke, but due to the prevailing winds, a huge fire broke out, they said. The frequency of landfill fires has increased with rising temperatures over the last few months.

 A fire also broke out at the Transport Bhawan on Parliament Street on Tuesday. The fire started from an air-conditioner in one of the rooms of the building.

In another incident, a fire broke out at a shop and spread to other stores in Amar Colony's main market in Lajpat Nagar. Delhi Fire Service Director Atul Garg said, "The fire started from a shop on the ground floor and spread to other stores and a restaurant. The fire also spread to the residence and an office on the first floor of the building." Around nine fire tenders rushed to the site to douse the flames. 

A Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus also caught fire on Tuesday afternoon in the Vikas Marg area in Delhi.