At least 12 foreign nationals were among the 21 people who died in the fire that broke out at the Flourish Stay B&B in Malviya Nagar on Wednesday.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday (June 4, 2026) alleged lapses in the response to the Malviya Nagar fire, questioning the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) account of when it was alerted and how quickly personnel reached the spot.
The allegations come a day after a fire in a bed-and-breakfast (B&B) facility in Malviya Nagar claimed 21 lives, including 12 foreign nationals, and left several injured. People were forced to jump from windows onto mattresses spread by local residents before firefighters arrived.
Addressing a press conference, AAP’s Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said the sequence of events described by the government did not tally with visuals from the scene.
“If mattresses had already been laid out by 8.15 a.m., the fire must have broken out around 8 a.m. or earlier. The people involved in the rescue would have informed the Fire Department or the police. How then can it be claimed that the Fire Department was informed only at 8.50 a.m.?“ he asked.
Mr. Bharadwaj said it was difficult to believe that residents carrying out rescue efforts had not alerted emergency services before that time.
“The government claims that the call was received at 8.50 a.m. and that the Fire Department reached the spot by 9.15 a.m. as evidence of a prompt response. This is a complete lie,“ he said.
He also referred to an earlier fire incident in Palam in which nine people died, and questioned the status of the magisterial inquiry ordered into the case.
“The incident took place on February 18. Three months have passed, but the report has not been made public,” he said.
DFS cites vehicle shortage
Responding to allegations of a delayed response, DFS’ Deputy Chief Fire Officer A.K. Malik said the nearest fire station, at Geetanjali Enclave, was unable to send vehicles immediately because its units had already been deployed to another fire.
“We had to mobilise fire units from Nehru Place and Bhikaji Cama Place, which are more than seven kilometres away. Traffic delayed their movement, but seven units reached the spot within 19 minutes. They carried all necessary rescue equipment, including hydraulic lifts, cutters and hoses,“ he said.
Mr. Malik said senior officers monitored the operation, and additional assistance was requisitioned soon after the first teams reached the site.
He said rescue efforts were carried out simultaneously on multiple fronts.
“One team was engaged in dousing the fire on the ground floor, another in cutting open shutters in the basement, while a third carried out search-and-rescue operations on the upper floors. In all, 38 personnel were deployed at the site,“ he said.
BJP hits back
Meanwhile, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor accused previous Congress and AAP governments of neglecting the Fire Service.
Mr. Kapoor said the DFS faced infrastructure constraints but continued to respond to emergencies despite limited resources.
“If there is a shortage of resources, 27 years of corruption and misgovernance by the Congress and AAP governments are responsible for it. Saurabh Bharadwaj should explain why the AAP government did not recruit a single firefighter during its 11 years in office and how many fire tenders it purchased,” he said.
Published – June 05, 2026 12:56 am IST
