FLAGRANT VIOLATIONS

Gujarat sees another major tragedy as businesses flout safety norms and officials look away. This time it's 33 lives lost in a blaze at a gaming zone 

- Jumana Shah

IN a video circulating on social media, Rajkot resident Pradeepsinh Chauhan can be heard saying that if any of the accused in the TRP Game Zone fire tragedy gets bail before the trial concludes, he will "not spare them". Chauhan was at the game zone with eight members of his family on May 25 when a spark from a welding work going on inside the facility triggered a fire. The game zone on Rajkot's Nana Mava Road, operating illegally since 2021, was burnt to the ground-33 people, including nine children, were killed. Five are 'missing, including Chauhan's 15-year-old son and his nephew. "I have nothing left to lose now," he says, with a mix of sorrow and anger.

Some 36 hours later, hearing a public interest litigation filed on May 27, the Gujarat High Court came down heavily on the state government, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation and the local police for allowing the game zone to operate illegally for two and a half years: "Were you sleeping? We have no faith in the state machinery on corrective measures." The vacation bench of judges Biren Vaishnav and Devan Desai first heard the matter on May 26 morning, pulling up the government for failure both at the policy level and in the implementation of basic fire norms.