The AAP and Congress alleged lapses in the fire department’s response time to the Malviya Nagar hotel inferno around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday (June 3, 2026), a tragedy in which at least 21 people, including foreigners, died.
Former Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Malviya Nagar and the party’s Delhi president, Somnath Bharti, said the fire brigade reached the site almost an hour late.
“The rescue teams were dispatched, but the fire brigade, which should have arrived within a few minutes of the incident, reached almost an hour later, despite the station just three minutes away from the spot. Residents were extremely proactive. Because of their efforts, many lives were saved. We could have saved many more lives had the fire brigade arrived on time,” Mr. Bharti said.
After visiting the fire site, Devender Yadav, president, Delhi Congress, said, “There is an absolute failure of the fire department in this case, and several other incidents have been reported in the past few days, but the government is not focusing on this. Before this, there were incidents in Palam and Vivek Vihar. There was only permission for 6 rooms, but around 20 rooms were here; there were grave lapses.”
– PTI