The inferno at Hotel Flourish Stay that left 21 dead and several more critical on Wednesday morning has put the spotlight firmly on rampant violations at such bed and breakfast (B&B) facilities running in the narrow lanes of Hauz Rani village, with many following a similar pattern of running excessive rooms against licences for a fraction of the total number.B&Bs in the locality evicted guests in the aftermath of the fire. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)A spot check by HT after the fire found at least five such facilities, having obtained licences for six B&B rooms, operating full-fledged hotels, equipped with kitchens, rooms in basements and only a single entry-exit point, in violation of fire safety norms.Several B&Bs running in the street hurriedly shut shop, asking their guests to shift elsewhere.A staffer at one such facility said, “We have been asked by the owner to help the guests shift elsewhere. That’s what we are doing.” HT spotted at least two more outlets taking down their signboards in the lane behind the facility where the fire broke out.A Russian-origin man, standing with his mother in a wheelchair outside a B&B, said, “We came here for my mother’s treatment. She has to get operated on soon. We will now shift somewhere else,” he said.Saad, 28, from Eritrea, said he was waiting to get his belongings from Mikasa Inn B&B, located adjacent to Flourish Stay B&B, where the fire broke out.Flourish Inn, another B&B suspected to be run by the same owner as the facility where the fire broke out, was also found to be operating in severe violation of norms. The basement was found operating with five rooms, where a makeshift kitchen was also running. On the first floor, HT found a reception with six rooms and there were six rooms each on the second and third floors. Two rooms were found on the roof as well. Documents were pasted next to the reception, clearly mentioning that the B&B could run only six rooms, with three each on the first and second floors.At the Green Residency B&B, the licence pasted at the entrance stated that six rooms were permitted, but the basement was alone found hosting five rooms, marked B1-B5. The narrow alley had no ventilation and the second exit was blocked. The staffers at the outlet refused to comment on the operations.Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said a large part of the settlement was marked under lal dora land of the urban village, while parts, such as the Kumhar Colony, have been categorised as unauthorised colonies. “It is an unplanned enclave where historically, little to no municipal regulations have applied. Even now, all constructions till June 2014 are protected,” an official, who did not wish to be named, said.By Wednesday evening, most of the guest house outlets had removed their nameplates as well.During a second spot check, staffers at the B&Bs turned away people requesting rooms.Amit Singh, 52, a resident, said that the village now has over two dozen such big and small accommodations and guest houses, with larger units largely catering to foreign nationals from African and Central Asian countries. “The presence of big hospitals like Max and large number of foreign patients who come here seeking treatment has really fuelled this growth. They book their package with stay, treatment and travel costs,” he said.Hauz Rani, historically known as an affordable residential enclave and a local market for pottery, has recently drawn attention due to recurrent safety issues in unregulated and high-density constructions. Positioned directly opposite popular city malls and major healthcare facilities, the locality has seen rampant unplanned growth in the past few decades.