PANAJI: Bombay high court on Monday recorded the statement of Being G S Hospitality Goa Arpora LLP, whose partners include Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta, that it will deposit ex-gratia compensation of Rs 20 lakh for the family of each of the 25 victims of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub fire tragedy.The victims include 20 employees and five tourists who died in the fire at the nightclub.The court recorded the statement of the LLP that it will deposit the first instalment of Rs 5 lakh for each victim by Nov 16, the second instalment of Rs 5 lakh by Dec 7, and the remaining Rs 10 lakh by Feb 7. This will be over and above the Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia compensation already paid by the LLP to the families of the 20 deceased employees.The bench of Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar said the amount deposited will be adjusted against any final compensation orders passed in proceedings pending before the labour commissioner under the Workmen’s Compensation Act concerning the 20 deceased employees, as well as proceedings initiated by the families of the deceased tourists before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Gurugram, Haryana.According to Haldankar, eight fire tenders from Kundaim, Ponda, Old Goa, Margao, Bicholim and St Inez-Panaji headquarters were pressed into service. Firefighters made repeated trips to spray around 1.7 lakh litres of water and used about 700 litres of foam to bring the blaze under control.“Considering the intensity of fire engulfing plastic and rubber waste we had to spray around 700 litres of foam to douse the fire,” Haldankar said.He said firefighters had contained the blaze by morning, but isolated fires continued to flare up.Heavy earthmoving machinery was deployed to sift through the scrap, move debris and cover isolated hotspots and embers with mud.“We have engaged earth machinery to sift the garbage,” a fire official said.Toxic smoke billowed from the site, hampering firefighting operations.An LPG cylinder was found inside the shed, where some labourers were staying. No injuries were reported.Fire officials said the cause of the blaze had not yet been determined.“We have not found the cause. When we reached here, the fire was everywhere. There is plastic, wires and paper, cardboard and cables that have been dumped here. All this creates a lot of smoke. We are not sure about the loss but to us all this looks like scrap. We used 1.7 lakh litres of water to douse the fire and the smoke still keeps coming,” a firefighter said.A person residing near the site alleged that the scrapyard was operating without permission from the panchayat. The fire and emergency services director visited the site, while police and revenue department officials also conducted inquiries.Santosh Naik, who claimed to be the owner of the land where the scrapyard was operating, said he had sought to evict the operator from the plot.“I found out about the fire in the morning. This scrapyard has been working for three years. We had asked the operator to remove the scrap. We had written to the collector and a case is being heard by the collector. We gave the land to the operator but not for scrap,” Naik said.
