Lucknow fire fallout: 18 engineers face the heat for ‘lapses’, action ordered

The Lucknow Development Authority Wednesday pasted a 15-day demolition notice at the premises. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)

What the inquiry found

According to officials, the inquiry found that the building had originally been sanctioned for single residential use, but came to house multi-storey commercial activities over the years. Despite apparent violations of the sanctioned map, officials posted in the area allegedly failed to take timely enforcement action.

A key focus of the inquiry is the role of Srivastava. Sources said records examined by the LDA show that Srivastava had passed a demolition order against the building in 2016 over unauthorised construction. The order, however, was later withdrawn after the builder submitted a representation.

The report questions why no fresh inspection was conducted after the demolition order was revoked to verify whether the building complied with approved plans or whether violations had continued.

It concluded that failures were not limited to a single officer but extended across multiple levels of the enforcement machinery over the years.

Action ordered

The LDA has recommended action against one former prescribed authority, four former zonal officers, six assistant engineers and seven junior engineers.

Among those named are former zonal officers Avnindra Singh, B P Maurya, P C Pandey and Anand Mishra; assistant engineers Sunil Kumar, Girish Chandra Sharma, Amar Kumar Mishra, R S Singh, Anil Kumar and Sanjay Shukla; and junior engineers Jai Prakash Narayan, Ravindra Kumar Srivastava, Gyan Prakash Srivastava, Pramod Pandey, Ambrish Kumar Sharma, Shivanand Shukla and Hemant Kumar, who is currently suspended.

The report has been forwarded to the state government for further action.