Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed grief over the loss of lives in a fire incident in Indore and announced ex-gratia for the affected families from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund.
“Deeply pained by the loss of lives in a fire mishap in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” PM Modi wrote on X.
“An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs 50,000,” he added.
According to officials, at least seven people were burnt alive after a massive fire engulfed a three-storey residential building near Bengali Square in Indore early on Wednesday.
The incident occurred around 4:00 am when a suspected short circuit at an electric vehicle (EV) charging point triggered a fire outside the house of the Pugalia family. Within minutes, the flames spread rapidly from the vehicle to the three-storey residential building, turning it into a death trap for those inside.
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya visited the site of the fire incident and reviewed the situation with officials on the ground.
The minister also directed officials to constitute an expert committee to probe the incident so that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) can be formulated to prevent such incidents in the future.
“This incident is very sad and alarming. As this is an era of EVs (electric vehicles) and the fire was triggered by the charging point of an EV, it is a matter of concern. We have asked the District Collector and the Commissioner of Police (CP) to constitute an expert committee to investigate the incident so that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) can be formed to prevent such incidents in the future.
“Today, every individual thinks of buying an EV, and I also think that if I purchase my next vehicle, it will be an EV. But if a fire breaks out due to EV charging, then it is quite an alarming situation,” Vijayvargiya told reporters.
Indore Commissioner of Police Santosh Kumar Singh said that soon after receiving information about the incident, firefighters rushed to the spot, began rescue operations and brought the fire under control.
“As soon as we received information about the incident, we informed our fire tender team to rush to the spot. Initially, it was a horrifying situation, but the team managed to bring the fire under control. Three people were rescued and, unfortunately, seven people have died in the incident. The fire has been completely brought under control,” Singh said.
(with agency inputs)
