Rajkot gaming zone fire: Human cost of Gujarat’s ill-equipped fire services

On May 26, the family of 24-year-old Namratsinh from Gadhara, Jamnagar rushed to Rajkot, about 100 kilometres from their home town after they heard about the fire engulfing the TRP gaming zone in the district. Namratsinh’s father Vanrajsinh Jadeja got to know about the TRP zone — where his only son was visiting with his wife and friends for the weekend — tragedy through WhatsApp. Jadeja rushed to the accident site but got no news of his family.

Sixty-two-year-old Jadeja spent the next two days in a haze waiting outside the Rajkot Civil Hospital accompanied by the families of those who were declared ‘missing’ in the fire.

“Families of other boys (friends of Nimart) had accompanied me. We had no idea. It was not on news and neither had we got any call from any authority. The last call I got from Nimart was after he reached Rajkot. He had called to inform me that he would return by 7 or 8 pm. My brothers son saw the video of fire being circulated on a local WhatsApp group and told me. We did not know if we should trust the information. But then I called Nimart and couldn’t reach him. We rushed to Rajkot after that,” recalls Vanrajsinh Jadeja.

“Maro dikro chali gayo (My son is gone),” Jadeja said breaking down into tears.

Nimartsingh Jadeja, a bank employee by profession, was married just four months ago and had decided to take a break. He travelled to the gaming zone with his newly wed wife and five friends. Out of the group of seven, only two survived. Nimart, his wife and his three friends, were among the 32 casualties of the massive fire on the ill-fated weekend.

When Vanrajsinh Jadeja reached TRP gaming zone it was completely chaotic with fire still blazing and police personnel barring everyone from going near the property.

“I was asked to go to the Civil Hospital in Rajkot by a police official who was sending every family member there. At the hospital, first we were told that bodies and injured people would be brought here and that we should wait for further information. After waiting for a couple of hours, we saw the first body reaching the hospital. It was then that it struck us that we could have lost our loved ones forever,” Jadeja said.

“Our trauma grew when one doctor told us that the bodies brought to the hospital were charred beyond recognition. We were then asked to give blood samples. We were told it was for the identification of the bodies. Like many people out there that day, I waited for two days after they drew blood for sample,” tells Jadeja.

“Those were the longest two days of my life... and the hardest. We did not move anywhere, neither did we eat. The hospital staff offered us some tea on day two. That’s all we had. I kept hoping that my son was just missing and would be rescued but that did not happen. They identified Nimart on May 28 with Renu, his wife and three of his friends,” adds Jadeja.

Akshay Dholaria, who got married just 10 days before the tragedy struck, was visiting Rajkot, his hometown. He and his wife Khyati Sawaliya were celebrating their marriage at the gaming zone along with Khyati's sister Harita when they fell victim to the massive fire. The trio remain declared as ‘missing’ because their bodies have not been identified yet. Both families reached Rajkot from Canada after the tragedy and gave their blood samples. The reports are yet to come out.

Noticeably, the doctors from the forensic department at FSL, Gandhinagar have stated that bodies are so charred that it has not been possible to draw blood. Hence samples are being matched with bones which is delaying the process. So far, 27 bodies have been identified through the process and three bodies and some human remains are yet to be identified.

Amongst the bodies identified are five members of Devkiba Jadeja’s family from Rajkot. Eight members of the Jadeja family had planned a weekend trip to the TRP gaming zone. Five of them, including three children, did not make it back home.

“My parents, brother, my maternal uncle’s family and I had gone to the gaming zone. My brothers and sister went to the third floor to play trampoline while rest of us were sitting at the restaurant on the premises. We heard a loud thud and realised a portion of the gaming zone was falling down. That’s when we saw the fire. My father and uncle rushed to the third floor to get my brothers and sister But just as my uncle and father managed to enter the building, there was a loud blast and the main door area was engulfed in fire completely. That was the last time I saw my father,” shares Devkiba.

“We did not hear any alarm, no staff was around to inform us or do anything about the fire,” she recalls.

For the family of Darshan Dosara from Gir Somnath district the wait is still not over.

“I am waiting for information on my son and daughter-in-law. They were visiting my daughter-in-law’s home in Rajkot and decided to visit the gaming zone. I have not heard from either of them since May 25. Nobody is telling me if they are alive or not,” said Darshan Dosara, a farmer by profession who left his ailing wife back home and has been camping at Rajkot Civil hospital for a week now.

Darshan’s 26-year-old son Vivek Dosara, and daughter-in-law Khushali had gotten married two months back and were visiting Khushali’s home as a part of ritual where the bride and groom visit the bride’s family for a brief stay.

“They were to return to Gir Somnath the next day. Why did they have to go to the gaming zone. They could have just come back home. It was just one day,” Dosara laments.

No safety procedure followed at the gaming zone

The TRP game zone did not have fire safety certificate which is a prerequisite for Building Use Certificate (BUC) permit, power and water connections.

Adding to that the property had only one door for exit and entry that made it impossible for many people to escape when the chaos started.

Besides, construction was going on in one part of the property. At the time of the incident, welding work was being carried out with piles of woods and highly inflammable oil lying adjacently. A spark from the welding machine is said to have caused the fire to the oil container that in turn burnt down the pile of wood causing the fire to spread.

“During the four years of its operations, we did not receive a single application for Fire Safety Certificate (FSC or NOC) from the TRP Game Zone,” said BJ Theba, the Rajkot deputy chief fire officer.

The FSC is a precondition to obtain BUC which in turn is mandatory to get electricity and water connections. The TRP gaming zone in Rajkot had managed to obtain electricity connection from Paschim Gujarat Vij Corporation Limited (PGVCL) and water connection from the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) despite not having FSC and BUC. The TRP gaming zone was granted the police permission as well. The Police License to operate any commercial property in the state is granted only after the applicant has obtained all other permissions.

The Comprehensive Gujarat Development Control Regulations (CGDCR), a body that regulates commercial properties did not include gaming zones in its purview. However, following the Rajkot fire incident, the Gujarat government brought out a checklist of safety regulations for gaming zones on May 31. The incident has also prompted change in the process of granting fire safety NOC in the state.

“Earlier, people whose properties were sealed for the lack of fire NOCs were required to file affidavits first stating that the fire safety equipment will be installed within the next 30 days. Following this, the sealed premises would be opened. However, after we would open the properties, in most cases people would not follow through with installation of fire safety equipment or renew the fire NOC. So now, senior officials have decided that the rule needs to change. A decision will be taken on what procedure should be followed for opening sealed properties in the coming days,” said Basant Parikh, the chief fire officer of Surat.

All that is wrong

The Gujarat Directorate of Fire Services (GSFS) was set up in 2015 as per the the Gujarat Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2013. However, years later, the Gujarat government has not appointed a single person to the 29 posts allocated to the GSFS.

The GSFS was slated to run under a director along with a deputy director, five regional fire officers and 22 personnel including technicians, accountants, clerks and telephone operators.

The plan was to install GSFS offices at the Old Sachivalay in Gandhinagar, where the set up would be as good as the Police Bhavan, the headquarters of the Gujarat Police. The building has been ready since 2018 but there are no employees to sit in the office.

In absence of the GSFS, the fire services in Gujarat operate under various civic bodies. In the six major cities – Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Surat and Vadodara the respective fire departments operate under the municipal corporation and has Regional Chief Fire Safety Officer. In other districts, it operates as fire brigade with usually a couple of personnel and a deputy regional chief fire officer.

However, these fire departments and brigades lack manpower and are low on budget.

According to information revealed by a RTI in 2023 by a former firefighter of Ahmedabad, the Ahmedabad Fire Emergency Services (AFES) has 323 vacant posts out of the sanctioned 880 posts leaving a vacancy of 37 per cent.

“By the end of 2024, about 100 more employees are set to retire, and that will make the situation worse,” said a fire fighter of AFES.

The RTI also reveals that instead of full-time regional fire officers in Gandhinagar, Vadodara and Rajkot, officers of the respective municipal corporations have been holding the charge of these posts since 2019.

“Besides the lack of staff, fire services in Gujarat have always been struggling for lack of funds. There are 24 municipalities that has no fire services or department. The other municipalities are incapable of handling disasters like huge fires and floods due to lack of infrastructure and manpower. By now, the government should at least integrate the eight municipal corporations with GSFS. But government has taken no action yet,” says MF Dastoor, former chief fire officer of Ahmedabad.

Until the Gujarat government acts on these gaping holes in its policy framework, many Vanrajsinh Jadejas will have to lose their loved ones to fire tragedies.