Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva on Wednesday, expressing grief over the tragic fire incident in Palam that claimed several lives, said Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has ordered an inquiry in to the incident.
Sachdeva emphasized that the government would focus on preventing such incidents in future as well as ensuring prompt rescue operations when such unfortunate mishaps take place.
He strongly condemned the statements and press conference held by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Saurabh Bhardwaj on the tragic Palam fire incident calling them inappropriate at a time of the tragedy of this magnitude .
Sachdeva said whether it was the condolence message issued by Kejriwal through in his X post or the statement made by Bhardwaj during a press conference, both reflected less sympathy for the public, more political frustration.
He further stated that every accident is tragic, and every government is accountable to the people in such situations.
However, instead of blaming the BJP government, which has been in power for just one year, it would have been better if the AAP leaders had explained what their government did between 2015 and 2024 to develop fire safety infrastructure in the national capital, despite major incidents such as the one at a hotel in Karol Bagh, Anaj Mandi (Filmistan), commercial building (Mundka), paint factory (Alipur), commercial building (Bhagirath Place), and neonatal hospital (Vivek Vihar).
The BJP leader reiterated that the party does not believe in politicizing tragedies and that the Delhi government will work seriously towards upgrading the Fire Services in the national capital.
He said that the current situation is the result of 27 years of misgovernance by Congress and AAP, as even today not every assembly constituency in Delhi has its own fire station.
He also stated that during the AAP regime, no work was done regarding the Fire Services in Delhi, alleging that the recommendation to open 85 fire stations was not implemented, and in 2023–24 alone, 1,303 deaths occurred due to fire incidents.