A 25-year-old man was charred to death, while another escaped unhurt after a two-storey banquet hall, which was under renovation, caught fire in Noida’s Sector 74 on Wednesday morning, said police.
The deceased was identified as Parvindar, who went by a single name, and hailed from Kasampur Kheri village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, said police, adding that he worked as an electrician at the banquet hall and resided on its premises.
“On Wednesday around 3.15am, the police control room was alerted by a local that the at Lotus Grandeur Banquet Hall in Sector 74 was afire. On getting information, a police rushed to the spot and the fire brigade was immediately alerted,” said Ram Badan Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Noida.
The DCP said, “Within half-an-hour, 15 fire tenders from surrounding fire stations were rushed to the spot and they managed to douse the flames after three hours of continuous efforts.”
“As flammable material was used in the construction of the banquet hall, the fire spread rapidly from the ground to the first floor, and the entire structure was gutted. It is suspected that the fire broke out due to an electrical short-circuit on the ground floor,” Pradeep Chaubey, chief fire officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.
“By the time we were alerted, the fire had already spread over a large area. Later, after the firefighting operation was halted, we were informed that a man was trapped on the first floor of the banquet hall,” said a fire official, asking not to be named.
When the fire brigade team was inspecting the gutted banquet hall, the man’s skeletal remains were recovered from inside a room, where an electrical panel of the banquet hall was located.
Investigation revealed that Parvindar was sleeping in a room on the first floor, behind the main hall. He was alone on the first floor when the fire took place. Personal Security Officer (PSO) Jitendra Kumar, 55, a retired army personnel, was sleeping on the ground floor. He managed to escape without injury.
“It came to fore after the fire broke out; Parvindar went to turn off the electricity supply. It is believed when he tried to escape, he got trapped and was charred to death.” said the fire official quoted above.
“According to standard operating procedure (SOP), if any fire incident is reported at any hospital, hotel, or banquet hall, all 15 fire tenders in the district are pressed into service. We followed the SOP and fetch water from a nearby high-rise to control the fire,” said Yogendra Prasad, fire officer, Phase 3.
This is the same banquet hall where a fire broke out on November 21, 2023, when some welding work was going on. “Last year, the fire broke out in the other part of the banquet hall. Following that incident, that part of the banquet hall was being reconstructed. It is scheduled to be completed in one or two months and the banquet hall is currently not operational,” said Chaubey, adding that the hall did not have a no-objection certificate from the fire department, and they were about to apply for it after. completion of work.
“We will conduct inspections at banquet halls in Noida and Greater Noida. Firefighting management systems, including fire extinguishers and sprinklers, are mandatory at banquet halls. As Sector 74’s banquet hall was under construction, it did not have any such equipment,” said Chaubey.
“No FIR has been registered yet. If anyone approaches with a complaint, a case will be registered,” said Krishna Gopal Sharma, station house officer, Sector 113.
