Hundreds of restaurants operating in building basements and hotels running in Lucknow’s narrow lanes—not even wide enough for a four-wheeler—are awaiting a fire tragedy similar to the one witnessed in Delhi where a massive blaze in a hotel in Malviya Nagar on Wednesday killed at least 21 people.A forensic expert at the site of the Delhi fire on Wednesday. (HT Photo)HT team visited multiple such locations in Lucknow, including Charbagh, the Chowk area in the old city, and several spots in Naka and Aminabad, which is the hub for such eateries and hotels.A few metres from Charbagh railway station, touts—in the form of auto-rickshaw and e-rickshaw drivers—wait. Depending on the budget, they drive passengers into narrow stretches like Subhash Marg, Pan Dariba Marg, and AP Sen Marg, where many hotels operate. In case of a fire tragedy, fire tenders cannot access some of these roads.HT found that many of these hotels’ signboards were fixed on the main road, but the building was situated 100 metres inside a lane.Similarly, as one walks through the Chowk area, the majority of restaurants operate from the basement of two-story buildings, including those near Akbari Gate. The same goes for Aminabad where multiple eating points operate from basements and narrow lanes. Many popular restaurants in the city’s Hazratganj and Lalbagh areas have only one entry/exit point, clearly flouting the fire safety norm that mandates separate entry and exit points.Pushpendra Singh, fire station officer (FSO) of Chowk, said these small food joints do not require a fire NOC as most of them are running in a space under 500 sq ft, and provisions of the UP Fire Prevention and Fire Safety Act 2025 don’t apply to them.“They, however, have been asked to keep fire extinguishers and sand buckets for any emergency,” he added.RK Rawat, fire safety officer of Hazratganj, who oversees areas like Aminabad, Naka, Hazratganj and Charbagh, said, “We’re listing such establishments and notices will be served on them.”Hotels in residential areas can legally be constructed on plots connected by roads as narrow as nine metres, according to provisions of the Lucknow Development Authority’s building bylaws. The provision has come into focus amid concerns over several hotels and hospitality establishments operating in congested localities.As per the bylaws, hotels with plot sizes up to 2,000 square feet can be developed if the approach road is at least nine metres wide. For plots larger than 2,000 square feet, the minimum road width requirement increases to 12 metres.The regulations further state that a hotel building must have a minimum of six rooms. While there is no minimum plot size requirement for hotels having up to 20 rooms, projects with more than 20 rooms must be constructed on plots measuring at least 500 square metres.The bylaws also permit hotel construction in accordance with the Master Plan and Zoning Regulations. For hotel projects developed on plots larger than 4,000 square metres, up to 20% of the permissible FAR can be used for service apartments and another 20% for commercial activities.An LDA senior official revealed that road width, parking availability and emergency access remain critical factors in ensuring public safety and smooth traffic movement around hospitality establishments.LDA officials maintain that hotel projects are required to comply with prescribed building bylaws, parking norms and zoning regulations before receiving approval.