Lucknow Fire: Action recommended against 25 LDA officials, including 6 PCS personnel

The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has recommended strict action against 25 of its current and former officials, including six Provincial Civil Service (PCS) personnel, in connection with the building that caught fire in Lucknow's Aliganj area, killing 15 people and injuring nine others, an official said on Wednesday. LDA Vice Chairman Prathamesh Kumar told PTI that the authority had constituted an internal inquiry committee, separate from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Uttar Pradesh government, to examine the role of its officials in the matter.

Also read UP launches crackdown on illegal coaching centres after Lucknow fire tragedy

"We have identified 19 engineers and six senior PCS officers who held charge as zonal officers, executive engineers, assistant engineers and junior engineers in the zone concerned and were responsible in this matter. We have recommended to the government that strict action be taken against them," Kumar told PTI.

Also read IIM Lucknow collaborates with NIDM on disaster management research

The three-storey building in Aliganj was being used as a commercial establishment in an area approved on the map as residential space. A massive fire erupted in the building, which housed an animation centre and other businesses, on Monday. According to police, it had one main entry point, no emergency exit and no measures to prevent smoke accumulation. The 15 people killed in the incident didn't have major burn injuries and suffocated to death after inhaling smoke, according to the post-mortem report.