A fire that broke out at around 3 pm on Monday gutted a three‑storey commercial building on Usha Mehta Marg in Aliganj, Lucknow, killing at least 15 people and injuring seven, officials said. Most of the victims were students who were attending classes on the building’s second floor when the blaze spread, trapping many inside.
Eyewitnesses said several people jumped from the building to escape the flames as smoke billowed through stairwells and corridors. The structure, which also housed a pet clinic, was largely destroyed. Fourteen fire tenders, including a hydraulic platform vehicle, were deployed to bring the fire under control, rescue teams said. The source of the fire has not yet been determined and investigations are ongoing.
In a statement issued late on Monday night, the Uttar Pradesh government said the three‑storey building had been the subject of a demolition order in 2016 for unauthorised construction, but that the order was revoked less than two months later. The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) had issued the demolition notice on May 10, 2016; the government statement said the order was revoked on July 5, 2016, a reversal that has since raised questions about the circumstances behind the decision.
According to official records cited by the government, the property in Sector D of the Aliganj Scheme was originally allotted on July 11, 1980, to Vijay Kumar (son of Rameshwar Sahay) under a hire‑purchase lottery scheme, with possession handed over after an agreement dated November 4, 1980. The plot was registered in the names of Vijay Kumar and his wife Usha in 2005 and later sold to Virendra Pratap Shukla and Surendra Pratap Shukla on January 19, 2013; the LDA completed mutation in their favour on August 7, 2014.
The building-about 1,992 square feet-had received approval for a residential‑use plan on August 20, 2014, under the self‑certification scheme, but unauthorised construction was subsequently detected and a case registered against one of the owners. Authorities said they will investigate both the origin of the fire and the earlier administrative decisions related to the property as rescue and forensics teams continue their work.
Original Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/lucknow-fire-building-got-demolition-order-in-2016-revoked-within-2-months-11673480#publisher=newsstand
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Publish Date: 2026-06-23 03:11:00
