A massive fire broke out at a wedding venue in the state capital late on Monday night after multiple cooking gas cylinders exploded in the midst of a residential locality. The impact of the blasts shook walls in nearby homes but failed to sound the alarm for officials, who leave public safety to chance while allowing these high-risk operations to continue. The Sunrise Marriage Garden at Bhanpur, where the fire broke out, is not the only such establishment operating in violation of zoning laws, safety rules, and basic common sense. Dozens of similar marriage halls and party venues continue to operate openly in residential areas across the city, enabled by a long-standing nexus between hall owners and a pliant administration. From old inner-city localities like Jehangirabad, Subhash Nagar, Shahjahanabad and Ashoka Garden to outlying stretches such as Berasia Road, Kaziq Camp, Eintkhedi and Jagdishpur (Islamnagar), unauthorised banquet spaces are mushrooming in neighbourhoods where narrow lanes, poor infrastructure, and a lack of enforcement make them a logistical and environmental nightmare. By law, such establishments should not exist here at all. Rule 15 of the Madhya Pradesh Bhumi Vikas Rules, 1984, prohibits these establishments in residential zones without formal land-use conversion and building permission. The Bhopal Master Plan (2005) permits them only in commercial or public/semi-public zones with wide access roads and mandatory parking and waste management systems — conditions nearly all these venues flout. Section 293A of the Madhya Pradesh Nagar Palika Act, 1961, empowers local bodies to shut down illegal constructions. The Fire Safety Rules (2010) require assembly spaces to hold NOCs from the fire department. But none of these provisions have stopped these halls from operating, often hosting hundreds of guests amid tangled power lines, overflowing drains, and gridlocked lanes. Architects say that these venues are high-risk setups functioning in places where even emergency vehicles cant pass during a wedding. Residents have long raised alarms. In several areas, homeowners have complained to both the municipal authorities and the district administration, informing them of the nuisance and risks posed by these wedding places that often cater to the economically weaker demography in the city. Officials within the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, however, point to a systemic failure in acting against these establishments. They admit privately that the issue is not just legal. Contrary to what people believe, we only carry out orders and do not have the sanctions to act unilaterally." The consequences are visible. Loudspeakers blare past midnight in violation of the Noise Pollution Rules (2000). Mounds of food waste are dumped into drains, flouting the Solid Waste Management Rules (2016). In some areas, residents report untreated water flowing directly into municipal drains. Experts say the civic indifference is part of a wider pattern. They assert that the situation is a classic case of deliberate non-enforcement on the part of the administration. Those living in the vicinity of these places say inspections are rare, penalties are symbolic, and even when notices are issued, the venues remain operational — with blessings from an administration that seems to have left public safety to chance.

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