A puja diya, or oil lamp, which was left unattended in an apartment on the 11th floor of the Lotus Pond society in Vaibhav Khand sparked a fire this morning.
According to sources, RD Gupta, the owner of C3-1102, was in Lucknow with his wife when the incident happened. It has been assumed that the fire was caused by a lit diya left unattended in the shrine at home by their son Rakshit. He had left for office around 10.30 am and the fire broke out soon after.
“The fire originated in the puja room, which indicates that the burning diya was the cause,” said Somdath Sonkar, fire station officer of Vaishali fire station.
Speaking to City Spidey, AOA members of the society said they were alerted about the fire by security guards, who were the first to spot the smoke billowing out of the windows of the flat around 11.30 am.
“We immediately informed the fire department and sent our maintenance staff and security guards to the flat. We had to break open the wooden door and iron gate at the flat entrance, as it was locked from the outside. The fire originated in the puja room adjoining the master bedroom of the flat. The crisis was dealt with by two fire tenders that reached the spot a little later,” said Sanat Tripathi, president of the Lotus Pond AOA. Indirapuram News
“Fortunately, the fire hydrants in the society were working. Since we spotted the fire on time, we could stop it before it spread to the rest of the flat,” Tripathi added.
This is not the first time a household fire has been caused by an unattended diya. A similar incident had taken place in Exotica Elegance in Indirapuram in January this year.
“Although some of the belongings of the flat were charred, no one was injured, as the flat was empty at the time of the incident,” said Sonkar, the fire station officer.
