Jharkhand CM Soren announces Rs. 4 lakh payout to victims' families : Dhanbad building fire

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Wednesday announced that the state government will give a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the families of those who lost their lives in the fire at the Ashirwad flat in Dhanbad and other past accidents. Soren also directed the district administration to provide proper treatment and other facilities to the people injured in the accident.

At least 14 people, including women and children, were burnt to death on Tuesday after a major fire broke out on the second floor of 'Ashirwad Tower' in Joraphatak area, about 160 km from the state capital Ranchi. Family members who lost their near and dear ones in a devastating fire in a multi-storied building found it difficult to identify charred bodies at a hospital in Dhanbad, officials said.

The bodies have been kept at the Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College mortuary for post-mortem, a district official informed.  The district authorities have ordered the medical college to conduct post-mortem on the burnt bodies.Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Singh said the rescue operation was completed late on Tuesday and a total of 14 people were injured in the fire, apart from those who were burnt.

Authorities at the Patliputra Nursing Home, where the injured were being treated, said a total of 18 people were admitted to the medical facility and most of them were discharged. One person is still being treated, a medical facility official said. "Most of them had suffocation problems and were discharged at night," said a doctor from a nursing home near 'Ashirwad Tower'.
The medical facility supplied water to extinguish the fire and joined the rescue operation.

"The multi-storied building has been sealed off and investigations are underway to ascertain the exact cause of the fire," a district official said. Bank More Police Station Senior Officer PK Singh said initial reports indicated that a curtain caught fire from the flames of an earthen lamp in one of the flats of the building.

The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday took suo motu cognizance of the Dhanbad high-rise fire tragedy in which 14 people were burnt to death. A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Deepak Roshan informed the state government about the incident.