Congress Slams BRS, BJP For Politicising Gulzar Houz

The Telangana Congress today strongly criticised what it described as the "insensitive and opportunistic politics" of the BRS and the BJP over the Gulzar Houz fire tragedy, with TPCC official spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin accusing the opposition parties of "doing politics over corpses" instead of standing with the grieving families.

Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan, Nizamuddin condemned what he described as shameless attempts by the opposition leaders to divert attention from the core issue of public safety by engaging in political mudslinging, and said that the time had come to stop the blame game and launch a people-centric fire safety movement across Telangana.

"This is not just a tragedy, but also a wake-up call," Nizamuddin said, and called for immediate Statewide fire safety awareness drives in homes, schools, apartments and commercial spaces. He also suggested regular electrical audits, restricted use of high-power devices during peak hours, installation of fire alarms and improved ventilation systems.

He specifically spoke of the Old City of Hyderabad, where narrow lanes obstructed firefighting operations.

Citing data published by the media in recent days, Nizamuddin said that Telangana had reported 5,407 fire incidents in the first five months of 2025. Hyderabad alone had seen over 2,500 fire calls last year and over 450 this year, he said, and mentioned several recent high-profile tragedies including fires in Begum Bazaar, Chandanagar, Puppalaguda, Pasha Colony, Yakutpura, Jiyaguda, Bazaarghat and Swapnalok Complex. Most of those were due to electrical faults, he said.

For the unversed, 17 lives, including those of children, were lost in the horrific May 19 fire at a commercial complex in Gulzar Houz.