Height barrier that forced 13km detour of fire engines removed

Ghaziabad: Locals in Loni’s Behta Hajipur removed a height barrier that forced fire engines to make a 13km detour as five persons — the youngest of them a seven-month-old boy — suffocated to death in a blaze that erupted in their building on Wednesday evening.
Yusuf, a local, told TOI that he was out for morning walk on Friday when he found the height barrier missing.He said some locals had told him that a group had uprooted the barrier and taken it away on a tractor the previous night.
On Wednesday night, the height barrier and narrow roads had impeded the firefighting operation. “Fire engines had to make a 13km detour to reach the colony, which delayed the operation by nearly 30 minutes. Besides, the engines had to stop at least 500 metres ahead of the house as the roads leading to it were too narrow. Subsequently, hose pipes were laid to take water to the building,” chief fire officer Rahul Pal had said.
The house where the broke out is just 1.5km from the height barrier.
The height barrier was installed two years ago by locals themselves to stop heavy vehicles from using the local road.
Mohammad Kadir, a villager, said every time the Pipeline Road underwent repair work, heavy vehicles used the Behta Hajiour route to reach Loni.
This not only damaged the condition of the road, but also increased the possibility of accidents, with houses lining up the stretch. This prompted villagers to install the barrier.
“But villagers took a unanimous decision to remove it after coming to know about the death of five persons in the fire. Some youths came and uprooted it,” he added.
Vivek Yadav, DCP (rural), said police had been sent to dismantle the barrier, but they found it removed already.
“Efforts are underway to find out who installed the barrier and who removed them. We have asked all SHOs of police stations to conduct inspections in their areas. Should they encounter any illegal height barriers, they are to remove them with immediate effect,” he added.