The Goa nightclub fire that took more lives of the vulnerable shut in a concrete bunker of a kitchen than that of patrons who managed to flee is yet another instance of what disregarding rules can lead to, especially when fireworks are allowed to be part of the entertainment without the most minor fire safety precautions in place
So ingrained is India and Indians’ disdain for regulations and contempt for safety measures that there is always a tragedy waiting to happen. And a sense of fatalism takes over the moment disaster strikes even if the cause is so easily traceable to human negligence.
The Goa nightclub fire that took more lives of the vulnerable shut in a concrete bunker of a kitchen than that of patrons who managed to flee is yet another instance of what disregarding rules can lead to, especially when fireworks are allowed to be part of the entertainment without the most minor fire safety precautions in place.
Mishaps occur all over the world in unpredictable ways, but none may offer such clarity in their aftermath as an Indian tragedy with a clear trail of rules subverted and regulations bypassed and with a human being to be blamed more than nature or such unstoppable force.
It is after tragedy strikes that the full story of criminal neglect of rules, so contemptuously bypassed by the greasing of palms, emerges. While electrical short circuits and cylinder blasts are common enough reasons behind crowded spaces where food is cooked and served, there will be no takers even for bare minimum firefighting capabilities like water buckets and portable fire extinguishers.
A night club built on an island, on a salt pan, with just two entry points and decorated with inflammable materials like shamiana fabric is an extreme example of how commercial India pursues profit, more like a goddess of wealth to be worshipped than to be made legitimately from business run with everyone's safety in mind in a place patronised by the public.
The classic tale of neglect, death and despair then continues in police swooping on owners culpable of moral bankruptcy, naming of inquiry panels following establishment's cliched comments about how “strict action” will be taken. Meanwhile, tourists who were in the wrong place, even if it is marketed as an enticing holiday paradise, at the wrong time will be mourned by kin and those of hapless deceased workers will be hunted down to receive their compensation cheques.
