Hyderabad, May 19 -- A day after the disastrous fire incident at Gulzar Houz near Charminar in Hyderabad the previous day that claimed 17 lives, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) on Monday, May 19, lashed out at the state government for "criminal negligence."

He, along with other party leaders, met the grieving families and expressed condolences. Later, speaking to reporters, he termed the incident as unfortunate and urged the Telangana government to ensure citizen safety in the future.

"To lose 17 members of a family is a horrible thing to comprehend. This happened due to the criminal negligence of the government," he said.

He said that the delay in the arrival of the fire tenders resulted in the los...