Rahul Gandhi interacts with Rajkot fire victims' kin virtually; says Cong is with them

Rajkot: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday interacted with the relatives of some of the victims of last month's TRP game zone fire incident in Rajkot city of Gujarat via video conferencing, and said his party was with them, party sources said.

Twenty seven persons, including four children, were killed in the massive fire that swept through the game zone in Nana-Mava locality of Rajkot city on May 25.

Gandhi interacted with the family members and relatives of some of the victims who were charred to death in the tragedy.

"Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacted with the family members of some of the victims of the game zone fire incident via video conferencing from Pathik Ashram here on Saturday afternoon. The meeting went on for nearly half-an-hour. He expressed condolences and said the party is with them," a party source said.

Congress' Gujarat unit president Shaktisinh Gohil was with Gandhi in Delhi, while Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani and party leader Lalji Desai, among others, were present with the victims' relatives on the occasion, he added.

Meanwhile, the Congress has called for 'Rajkot Bandh' on June 25, when the incident completes one month. The party is pressing for a host of demands from the BJP government, including higher compensation to the kin of the victims.

On Saturday, the kin of the victims joined Congress workers to make an appeal to the people, especially shopkeepers, to support the one-day bandh call given by the party by downing their shutters on that day.

On June 15, Congress party workers had organised a protest outside the city police commissioner's office. Newly-elected Congress Member of Parliament Geni Thakor also joined the protest.

In the probe conducted by the police into the devastating fire, it was found that the game zone was running without a no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.

Following the incident, the state government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under Trivedi to find out the causes of fire, loopholes in the system and to suggest steps to be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.

So far, police have arrested five owners of the game zone and six government officials in connection with the fire.