The plea contended that despite the lapse of 21 years since the tragic incident that claimed 59 lives, fire safety arrangements in Delhi have not improved. (File)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Delhi government if it had sent a requisition to fill up over 45% vacancies in the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), which, according to a plea, is facing a “manpower crunch” and is allegedly “ill-equipped”. Issuing notice to the Delhi government, a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao sought its stand on a plea by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT). The plea contended that despite the lapse of 21 years since the tragic incident that claimed 59 lives, fire safety arrangements in Delhi have not improved.
The association said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had, in its March 2015 report on the performance audit of the DFS, found several loopholes in its functioning. “The five-year audit of the premier fire service of the country has shown that in case of a fire emergency, the fire service is not only ill-equipped, but also well short of staff,” the plea said.
On June 13, 1997, during the screening of Bollywood film Border at the Uphaar theatre, 59 people had died of suffocation due to smoke filling the building, when a transformer nearby caught fire and spread to cars parked near the theatre. The AVUT, represented by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, said 21 years after the incident, fire safety arrangements had “deteriorated” in the city, with the DFS facing a manpower crunch of over 45% of its prescribed strength.
The plea said the DFS needed to strengthen its Fire Prevention Wing (inspection, awareness and training) so as to prevent incidents similar to the Uphaar fire in the future. It suggested introducing a system based on the “Safe Goa 24/7-Emergency Monitoring System” in Delhi.
The plea said that under the initiative that is in place in Goa, an electronic hardware is installed in a building, which links the Fire Force Headquarter Control Room and the local fire station watch-room of the Goa State Fire Emergency Services. “Using remote-communication technologies such as GPRS, the system monitors buildings in real time, 24×7…,” the petition said.