Fire breaks out at BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad’s Delhi home, brought under control immediately

A fire broke out at BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad’s New Delhi residence on Wednesday morning and was quickly controlled. No injuries were reported. The incident adds to recent fire accidents in the capital, amid concerns over Delhi Fire Services’ staff shortages

New Delhi: A fire broke out in BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad’s residence in New Delhi on Wednesday, officials said.

According to the authorities, the fire broke out at around 8:00 a.m. in one of the bedrooms of the residence. Upon receiving the information, three teams of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) reached the spot, and the blaze was brought under control, officials said. The cause of the fire is unknown, and the authorities are investigating.

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Further details are awaited.

Ravi Shankar Prasad, representing Patna Sahib constituency in the Lok Sabha, has served as the first Minister of Electronics and Information Technology from 2016 to 2019 and from 2019 to 2021. The BJP leader has served as a Member of Parliament since 2000 — first in the Rajya Sabha (2000-2019) and then in the Lok Sabha (since 2019). He has also served as a Union Minister multiple times.

This also adds to the series of fire-related incidents in the national capital. Earlier, on January 6, three people were killed in a massive fire that broke out on the second floor of the Delhi Metro staff quarters in Adarsh Nagar. The deceased have been identified as Ajay (42), Neelam (38), and their 10-year-old daughter, Janhvi.

According to Delhi Fire Services (DFS), they received information about a fire on the second floor of one of the buildings in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) staff quarters in Adarsh Nagar. A team of firefighters were immediately dispatched to the scene.

When fire engines arrived at the scene and conducted rescue operations, they found three bodies, officials said. During the rescue operation, a firefighter was also injured.

Officials confirmed the deaths and said that police are investigating the cause of the fire. Relief operations are underway, and further details are awaited.

Earlier this month, too, a fire broke out in the top-floor flat of a five-story building in Mandawali. The fire was caused by a gas cylinder explosion, according to the DFS. Three firefighters were injured in the operation and were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. The officials said that the injured are currently out of danger.

The police said that the short-circuit in the room heater caused the fire, which spread rapidly across the room.

The resident immediately escaped and called the fire services. When the team arrived and started the operation, a cooking gas cylinder exploded, injuring three firefighters.

Meanwhile, the DFS is experiencing a significant shortage of personnel, with key vacancies in both supervisory and frontline positions leading to staff overload and threatening fire safety throughout the city, as reported by DFS statistics.

According to the data, the agency currently employs just 18 assistant divisional officers (ADOs), while the approved number is 24. These officers are responsible for carrying out fire safety inspections and ensuring compliance at more than 5,000 establishments, including restaurants, clubs, hotels, hospitals, and commercial complexes across the city.