The Rajasthan High Court has suo motu taken note of the devastating fire incident on December 20, resulting from a collision between a gas tanker and several vehicles on the Jaipur-Ajmer National Highway, claiming at least 14 lives.

The Court has expressed grave concerns regarding road safety and the adequacy of current preventive measures.

The Court noted that in recent years, many parts of the country have witnessed a rise in the frequency and severity of large-scale fires, which have directly affected lives, human health, safety, livelihoods, and more.

The Court further observed that fires caused by chemicals or LPG have become a significant concern for disaster management, affecting the government, private sector, and the public at large. It emphasized that such disasters can have traumatic impacts on human lives, leading to casualties as well as extensive damage to property and the environment.

The Court also referred to some of the world's worst disasters, including the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy, where thousands lost their lives due to the accidental release of the toxic gas Methyl Isocyanate (MIC), and the 2009 Jaipur fire incident, which resulted in several deaths, severe burn injuries to many individuals, and significant damage to property.

"Such accidents are significant in terms of injuries, pain, suffering, loss of lives, damage to properties and environment. India continued to witness a series of chemical accidents even after Bhopal had demonstrated the vulnerability of the country. Only in last decade, 130 significant chemical accidents were reported in India, which resulted into 259 deaths and 563 number of persons with major injuries," the Court remarked.

In its order, the Court emphasized that such incidents could be prevented if the government took appropriate precautions regarding road safety. It highlighted that road safety remains one of the major challenges on roads and highways.

"Every year thousands of people die while crossing the roads, U-turns and black spots. These accidents result in huge loss of human kind and economy. It is right time and high time for the Government to identify these black spots and adopt all the preventing measures to safe human life and all living beings. Danger alarm holdings can be fixed to alert the people to remain cautious while passing or crossing such U-turns and black spots," the Court observed.

In light of this, the Court acknowledged that the Central Government has ordered a payment of Rs. 2 Lakhs to the families of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 to the injured in the fire incident, and that a six-member committee has been formed to investigate the cause of the incident. However, a bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhandh emphasized that these measures are insufficient.

The Court stated that the matter demands an immediate and thorough inquiry and investigation. It also emphasized that adequate compensation should be provided to the families of the deceased, the injured individuals, and all victims whose vehicles and properties were damaged in the incident.

Thus, issuing notices to the Union of India, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, New Delhi, Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan, Secretary, Disaster Management, Relief & Civil Defence Department and Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government Secretariat, Jaipur, the Court has asked them as to why the following directions be not issued to them:

(i) for holding an enquiry against all the defaulting persons and non-action on the part of the administration in not performing of statutory duty and causing negligence in occurrence of such unfortunate in such incident.

(ii) for awarding adequate amount of compensation to the family members of the deceased, injured and all the victims whose vehicles and properties have been damaged in this fire incident.

(iii) for shifting of the hazardous factories and godowns where highly inflammable chemicals, gases, etc. are manufactured and stored for distribution to the places away from the thickly populated areas.

(iv) for strict implementation of the provisions of the Acts, as referred in Para-8 of this order and for implementation of disaster management plan in all the revenue districts to save the lives of all living beings.

(v) for taking appropriate steps to complete the construction works of the bridges and over bridges within a time bound framework and

(vi) for framing appropriate schemes/policies provide a separate way/passage to such vehicles who carrying highly inflammable gases, chemical, hazardous articles, etc. to avoid any unwanted incident in future.

(vii) for identifying the black spots and dangerous U-turns and for adopting preventive measures to safe human life and all living beings by fixing danger alarm holdings on the highways.

The Court has directed the Chief Secretary of the Government of Rajasthan, along with the Secretaries of all respondent departments, to submit a report detailing the actions taken by both the Central and State Governments on the issues raised in this petition. The case is scheduled for further consideration on January 10.

According to media reports, the tragic incident occurred when an LPG tanker, traveling from Ajmer to Jaipur, attempted to make a U-turn near a school, a known black spot. A truck approaching from the opposite direction collided with the tanker, triggering a massive fire that spread over an 800-meter area. The fire engulfed numerous vehicles in the vicinity, resulting in multiple fatalities and injuring over 30 people.

Case title - IN RE: In the matter of Massive Fire Broke out at JaipurAjmer-Kishangarh-Bhankrota Highway