NEW DELHI: Riyazuddin Mansuri, a local mattress trader who pulled out everything in his shop to help those trapped in the Malviya Nagar hotel blaze, has asked the government for Rs 2 lakh compensation for losses incurred during the rescue operation.
Mansuri and his son Arman, who joined the rescue efforts after being alerted by a neighbour, stacked quilts and mattresses outside the hotel to cushion people attempting to escape through windows.
“People on the upper floors were shouting and asking if they should jump. I immediately brought out around 20 to 25 quilts and mattresses from the shop and spread them outside the building,” Arman said on Wednesday.
Speaking to PTI, Mansuri, whose family’s mattress shop stands opposite the Flourish Stay bed-and-breakfast hotel, said, “We did whatever we could on humanitarian grounds.”
“We suffered a loss of more than Rs 2 lakh. We gave away everything… mattresses, quilts, bedsheets and whatever material was available. The injured and even some bodies were brought out using our bedsheets,” he said.
“I don’t know when the shop will reopen,” said Mansuri, looking at his shuttered store that has remained closed since the devastating hotel fire next door, the routine rhythm of trade now replaced by grief, uncertainty and the lingering smell of smoke.
For Mansuri, however, the tragedy has not only meant a forced pause in business but also a sense of anger over the negligence that resulted in an inferno that claimed 21 lives.
“The hotel owners made money, but it is their negligence that has left us bearing the cost. The government should at least compensate those who stepped forward during the rescue,” he told PTI.
Mansuri said he and his staff were among the first responders at the scene and had spread mattresses outside the building before firefighters arrived.
“We quickly spread the mattresses outside as people cried for help. Around eight people jumped onto them and survived,” he said.
PTI