New Delhi: The NHRC has sent notices to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state’s police chief over the collapse of a roof at a crematorium in Ghaziabad that claimed over 20 lives, officials said on Tuesday.
Issuing the notices, the Commission has also observed that apparently the contractor and the department concerned acted in a “negligent manner” leading to violation of the right to life of the victims.
“The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media report that at least 23 people were killed and over 30 injured after the roof of a shelter at a crematorium collapsed on them in Murad Nagar Municipality, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, January 3,” it said in a statement.
The Commission has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, UP government, and the Director General of Police, seeking a detailed report within four weeks.
“The report must contain review of all the crematoriums, burial grounds and other such buildings, which are used by the general public for community activities in the state and maintained by the local administrative authorities. The authorities concerned must ensure proper maintenance of such places to avoid any untoward incidents in future posing danger to human lives,” the statement said.
The Commission has also noted, on the basis of media reports, that an FIR has been registered and financial assistance has also been announced by the state government.
The rights panel said it has asked the state government, through its senior officers, about the present status of the investigation of the case as well as the health condition of the injured.
The incident is required to be investigated thoroughly so that the guilty could be adequately punished as per the provisions of the law, it added.
Twenty-four people, most of them attending a funeral, were killed and at least 17 others injured when the roof of a shelter at a cremation ground in Ghaziabad’s Muradnagar collapsed on Sunday, officials said.