Most hotels and B&Bs shut since Delhi B&B fire, Hauz Rani Market awaits customers

Many shopkeepers in the market are migrants who operate from rented shops.

Barricades in place at the Hauz Rani market on Friday. (Express Photo by Abhinav Saha)

4 min readNew DelhiJul 4, 2026 10:01 AM IST First published on: Jul 4, 2026 at 10:01 AM IST

Anyone visiting Hauz Rani Market in South Delhi’s Malviya Nagar cannot miss the yellow sealing tapes outside most of the hotels and B&Bs in the area.

A month after the fire at Flourish Stay B&B killed 23 people, including 14 foreign nationals, the crackdown by the MCD on hotels flouting norms continues. Around almost every corner, hotels and B&Bs are shut, with safety violation notices pasted across their entrances. The gutted building where the fire broke out on June 3 stands hidden behind a pink sheet and police barricades.

The shops, however, are open again. Pharmacies, grocery stores, restaurants, crockery and pottery shops have resumed business after a brief closure.

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But beneath the appearance of normalcy, traders say business has all but disappeared. With the crackdown in effect, the streets are empty and so are the shops.

For years, many establishments in the area relied on medical tourists who came for treatment at the Max Hospital in Saket, located across the road, and stayed in nearby hotels, guest houses and B&Bs.

A foreign national, who has been running a store of imported food items for two years in the market, said his business depended almost entirely on overseas visitors.

“Footfall has dropped by at least 70%. My store survives on foreign customers. I have three employees who depend on me. I feel like a leaf floating on water. At any moment, the current can carry everything away,” he said.

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Many shopkeepers in the market are migrants who operate from rented shops.

Thahlath Azeez from Bodh Gaya in Bihar, who has been running a tea shop in the market for more than a decade, said, “I wish the building owners understand our situation. They only care about getting the rent on time. We are really worried about how we will cover our expenses this month.”

Fifty-seven-year-old Kesar, who has run a pottery shop next to the gutted building for more than three decades, still remembers the morning of the fire. “We were having breakfast when we heard the screams. My husband and son ran towards the building and returned hours later covered in soot. I can still hear the screams,” she said.

Her shop hardly sees any customers these days. “I have only made Rs 30 selling a clay pot since we opened the shop in the morning. We barely scrape by. The government should do something,” she said.

A few metres from the burnt building, Mansuri Cotton Shop has reopened days after the fire. Riyazuddin Mansoori (62), the proprietor, became a local hero after he attempted to save victims of the fire by laying down blankets from his shop to cushion the blow as many jumped from the upper floors of the B&B to save their lives.

“Our store was not damaged in the fire. For that, I am thankful to God. But seeing the market like this, and shopkeepers panicking, makes me worried for our neighbourhood. The tourists were our bread and butter. Now, they are gone. Where do we go from here?” he said.

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