City Reports

Jaipur: A family and its dreams that were charred to death in Vidhyadhar Nagar fire

Four of them were young people who were looking forward to great careers. At this stage in their lives, all they thought about was to achieve their dreams and make it big in life, but destiny had something horrible in store for them.

February 1, 2018, 10:29 am

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Vidhyadhar nagar family that was killed in fire

(From left to right) Arpita Garg, Animesh Garg, their mother, their father Sanjeev Garg and Apurva who were killed in Vidhyadhar Nagar fire.

Jaipur: The untimely death of five members of a family in the fire that ravaged a house in Vidhyadhar Nagar Sector – 9 of Jaipur has left the city shocked.

Four of them were young people who were looking forward to great careers. At this stage in their lives, all they thought about was to achieve their dreams and make it big in life, but destiny had something horrible in store for them.

Sanjeev Garg who owns an iron wire factory near Reengus and his wife were inconsolable when the couple arrived in Jaipur after attending the final rituals of an acquaintance in Agra. The mother who lost her three children in the blaze – 17-year-old Animesh, 21-year-old Arpita and 23-year-old Apurva – fell unconscious many times.

Animesh was a class 11 student in Delhi Public School. His schoolmates are yet to come to the terms with the tragedy.

Aprita was preparing for MBA after graduating from St Xavier’s College and Apruva was preparing for competitive examination. Apurva dreamed of becoming an administrative officer and serve the society and needy people, according to her relatives.

Twenty-year-old Shaurya was visiting the family on Makar Sakranti. Shaurya who was son of Sanjeev’s brother-in-law was an LLB student. He came to Jaipur two days ago so that he could fly kites with his cousins.

Neighbors said that when they heard explosions around 4 am, they rushed out of their homes. They couldn’t see anything, but the two girls – Aprita and Apurva – were shouting for help.

Some neighbors even jumped into the house of the victims from the rooftop of adjoining houses, but the fire and smoke made it impossible for them to help the family members stuck inside.

The one-hour delay by the fire department in getting fire tenders to the spot further worsened the situation. The local residents alleged that had the rescue teams arrived at the spot on time, Animesh and Shaurya could have been saved as they died of suffocation.

“They were alive even when they were rushed to a private hospital. It was almost 2-3 after the fire broke out. The delay in rescue operation killed them,” said Hanuman Prasad, a neighbor.

Read Also: Vidhyadhar Nagar fire: 3 firemen suspended, 2 officers served chargesheet for negligence

First published: January 14, 2018