An Ahmedabad garba event attended by around 3,000 people began without a fire No-Objection Certificate (NOC) or prior police permission, prompting fire department officials to inspect the venue and flag safety concerns, including missing extinguishers and exposed electrical wires.
The event, organised by singer Jigardan Gadhvi under the name ‘Sachi Navratri’, was held in a dome venue in the New Science City area. According to Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services chief fire officer Mithun Mistry, officials had visited the venue twice on October 8, 9, 10 and 11 to check fire-retardant spray and emergency exits.
Despite those inspections, no fire extinguishers had been placed at the venue until 4 pm on October 11, the report said. Organisers then began placing extinguishers and informed the department by telephone at 9 pm that the arrangements had been completed.
An additional chief fire officer and a deputy chief fire officer were sent for a final inspection at 9.30 pm. However, the inspection could not be completed after the electricity supply went out at the venue at around the same time, forcing the officers to return at 10 pm, Mistry said.
The chief fire officer said senior officials later carried out an in-person inspection at the site by noon. If the arrangements were found to be non-compliant, the organisers would be issued a notice and the police would be informed. If the venue met the required conditions, the fire department would collect the prescribed charge and keep a fire vehicle on standby during the event.
The department said a regular party plot would generally require 200-litre water drums and portable fire extinguishers. The air-conditioned dome venue, however, required a fire vehicle to remain stationed there, according to the report.
A person named Fenil had applied for the fire NOC, but it had not been issued when the garba event began. The final licence is issued by the police department. The fire department said it would approach the ‘Guj Fire’ court and inform the police if the required corrections were not completed.
Officials gave the organisers a deadline of 7.30 pm to rectify the defects and obtain online approval before allowing the garba programme to continue. The report also said exposed electrical wires were visible at the venue the following morning, adding to concerns about possible electrical hazards.
Organisers Fenil Lalkia and Chintan acknowledged that the event had started without the NOC. Lalkia said preparations had been under way for two months and that the organisers had expected the NOC to be issued on the first day. With approximately 3,000 attendees waiting outside, the organisers started the programme despite the missing approval, he said.
Lalkia also said police instructed the organisers to stop the event between 11 pm and 11.30 pm, but the programme continued until about 12.30 am or 1 am to avoid inconvenience to the crowd. He said the organisers were correcting the deficiencies and would hold the event only after receiving the NOC.
The episode has raised questions about how a large public gathering was allowed to begin before mandatory fire and police clearances were in place, and why essential safety equipment was not available at the venue despite repeated inspections. The fire department’s final decision was to depend on the outcome of the corrective inspection and the organisers’ online approval.
