Fire cases between Apr 15-27 increased threefold over last yr

Fire incidents between April 15 to 27 have increased threefold compared to last year, which has caused “significant damage” to the city’s air quality, the Delhi government on Thursday said.

The government’s claim came at a time when reports of various organisations suggest that major impact has “not been noticed” so far on the improvement of air quality due to the second phase of the implementation of the odd-even scheme.

In support of his claims, Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday released a data on the fire incidents across the national capital from April 15-27 in 2015 and 2016. These incidents also include fire in houses.

Rai said that on April 15 last year, only 47 fire incidents had taken place but on the same day this year, 113 incidents occurred. 104 such incidents were reported on April 16, 2016 while on the same date, 51 incidents had taken place last year.

This year, 117 fire incidents were reported on April 26 while last year only 69 such cases had occurred.

Rai said that on Wednesday, 142 fire incidents took place, but on April 27 last year, only 61 incidents had been reported.

“We don’t know who is behind sudden increasing numbers of these fire incidents. In last 15 days, fire incidents have increased by three times compared to such incidents last year during the same period, which has left significant impact on damaging the city’s air quality,” the transport minister said.