Date:22/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/22/stories/2008112259730400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Two cooks die as gas cylinder explodes in hostel kitchen

Staff Reporter

Investigation reveals that the hostel authorities had been illegally using domestic LPG to cook food

The hostel is located in a five-storeyed building
Department of Food and Civil Supplies asked
to conduct an inquiry

Accident spot: A police official inspecting the gas cylinder which burst at the hostel near Madivala in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: Two cooks died in a kitchen fire early on Friday. The accident occurred at the Sarala Paying Guest Accommodation for Working Women on Hosur Road at Maruthinagar near Madivala.

The victims have been identified as Manikanta (16) and Shivakumar (28), residents of Siddarthanagar and Maruthinagar here, though both hail from Tamil Nadu.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Madivala subdivision) S.V. Guled said someone had forgotten to turn off the regulator the night before and when the stove was lit the following morning, the leaking gas caught fire, burning them.

Manikanta, who lit the stove, died on the spot and Shivakumar died at St. John’s Hospital, said officials of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.

The explosion damaged window panes of the hostel as well as those of neighbouring houses. C. Gayathri Raghuram, a neighbour, said: “I heard a loud noise around 5.30 a.m. and all the girls at the hostel started screaming. We could see smoke, but we were not sure what had happened initially.”

Misuse

Meanwhile, during the course of investigation, it was found that the hostel authorities had been illegally using domestic LPG cylinders to cook food. “Use of domestic cylinders in postgraduate hostels is an offence. The hostel is run by S. Srinivasa Rao, businessman and a resident of Maruthinagar. He has other postgraduate hostels elsewhere in the city and in this one, the hostel is located in a five-storeyed building. The fire broke out on the fifth floor and around 35 girls were sleeping on third and fourth floors. We found a domestic gas cylinder in the kitchen and will initiate action against the owner,” said a senior police officer.

Following the instructions from Soumendu Mukherji, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East), the Madivala police have asked the Department of Food and Civil Supplies to conduct an inquiry.