One month after Birch nightclub fire, govt inaction raises questions

Panaji: A month after the deadly fire at Birch by Romeo Lane, in which 25 people were killed, questions are being raised over govt’s lack of action against those involved in granting permission to the nightclub.

The response has been limited to action against a few officials, while the magisterial inquiry report is yet to be made public.Similarly, despite receiving a fact-finding committee report into the stampede at the Shree Devi Lairai Jatra seven months ago, no concrete action was taken except for the transfer of officers.The report held North Goa SP Akshat Kaushal and North Goa collector Sneha Gitte responsible.The jatra committee, headed by the revenue secretary Sandeep Jacques, submitted the report to chief minister Pramod Sawant, who said it consisted of observations, conclusions and several recommendations.Despite Sawant’s announcement that action would be taken against officers who protected the nightclub, no such action has followed. On Dec 24, the magisterial inquiry report was submitted, and departments issued show cause notices to employees responsible for granting permission.“The very fact that clubs sealed for safety violations were permitted to open for New Year shows nobody is serious. In fact, the tragedy is now an opportunity to extract from small businesses.

Such gross illegalities are not possible without govt being complicit,” said advocate Cleofato Almeida Coutinho. He added that “going after panchayat officials was only to throw dust in our eyes”.“Govt has its hand deep in it, and the intention is not to have any change in fairness or good administrative set-up, but to tide over the unfortunate situation. The ruling party believes in time solving all matters, and they want to take advantage of short public memory,” Coutinho said.Former judge Francisco Tavora said the recommendations should be taken to their logical end and those responsible should be prosecuted. “They should be made to suffer the full complement of the consequences as prescribed by law,” he said.Four of the deceased belonged to the same family, and three were women. When the fire broke out, 150 tourists inside.The day after the fire, govt suspended Siddhi Halarnkar, Shamila Monteiro, and Reghuvir Bagkar. Later, Bagkar was terminated and sarpanch Roshan Redkar was disqualified. Goa state pollution control board suspended Chaitanya Salgaonkar and Vijay Harichandra Kansekar for failing to conduct a proper inspection.Goa police arrested eight people, including Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta. A court granted bail to three accused.