The cause of the fire at Rajkot’s game zone that has taken 28 lives including many children so far is yet to be revealed. However, the negligence of the authorities, where a blind eye of the system led to the horrific incident, is glaring.

Turns out, the game zone that has been operational for the last four years did not have a fire non-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department, indicating that there were no means to tackle such an incident in the game zone spanning over 2000 square metres.

With such non-compliance with the safety norms, the game zone was allowed to run for four years under the nose of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation and city police.

The game zone, a huge two-storied dome reportedly had no ventilation. The investigation on the site today revealed some fire-safety equipment on the site, however, they were in a brand-new, sealed condition. Moreover, the structure of the dome was temporary, and it was filled with flammable materials.

Under the general construction and development rules, the plans for a cement and concrete structure have to be approved by the authorities, however, there are no such provisions for the temporary structures like the dome at the TRP game zone. This loophole is known to be exploited by many entities.

Adding to the tragedy was the bottlenecking of people when the fire broke out. For such a huge crowd on the weekend, where tickets for the game zone were available at a discount, the organisers had reportedly only kept one gate for the entry and the exit, leading to chaos when the fire broke out.