The fallout of the Aliganj fire tragedy reached Lucknow’s coaching hubs on Wednesday as LDA and fire department teams inspected educational institutes across the city, sealing centres and ordering corrective action over unauthorised building use, structural deviations and compliance lapses.
Acting on chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s directions to inspect places where large numbers of students and elderly people gather, a joint team led by Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) vice chairman Prabhakar Singh and chief fire officer (CFO) Ankush Mittal carried out inspections at several educational institutions throughout the day.
The team examined building maps, structural layouts and fire safety equipment, including extinguishers and hose pipes, at multiple coaching centres.
At one institute in Hazratganj, which caters to around 2,500 students, officials found that while the building had adequate exit points, its current use did not match the approved building plan.
“The building’s actual use completely differs from its approved map. The map must be completely redone if the management wants to run a coaching institute. The management was directed to get their map re-approved,” said Prabhakar Singh, LDA vice chairman.
The representative of the institute maintained that the organisation possesses the required commercial approvals and does not operate any centre without necessary permissions. The representative also alleged that the institute was being unfairly targeted.
At another coaching institute in Hazratganj, officials inspected fire safety arrangements and exit routes. While fire safety equipment was in place and the building had separate entry and exit points, the management failed to produce the approved building map during the inspection.
“We have asked the management to submit the map at the earliest to ensure uninterrupted functioning of the classes,” Singh said.
Another coaching centre of the same institute in Gomti Nagar was later sealed over compliance-related issues.
The inspection team also visited an institute where only security personnel were present and no management representative was available during the inspection. While CFO Ankush Mittal checked fire safety equipment, LDA officials found structural deviations from approved plans and ordered the premises sealed.
“If a building has narrow corridors, even if a map was passed at some point, the physical construction has not been made according to it. No authority or management was present here to account for it,” Singh said.
The team later inspected another educational institution on Rana Pratap Marg and directed the management to suspend classes and submit the approved building map for verification before operations could continue.
