The All India Industrial Exhibition Society (AIIES), which conducts the annual Numaish, did not have the Fire Services Department’s no objection certificate.
A high ranking official from the Fire Services Department confirmed this to The Hindu a day after an inferno ravaged a large part of the Numaish grounds and destroyed property worth crores.
“We have not issued any no objection certificate to the AIIES. Not just that, we have noted that there were several deficiencies there. At a place where a large congregation comes, there must be more precautions that should have been taken,” the official said. While on the one hand the official confirmed that there was no NOC obtained, on the other he also pointed out that the Fire Services Department was not consulted at the time of setting up stalls.
“We were not even consulted when stalls were set up. We were not a part of this process. But after a meeting with AIIES members and top officials of our department, they have given us an assurance that they would consult us from next year in order to avoid such incidents,” the official said.
Later during the day, Fire Services Department officials, Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali and former Finance Minister Eatala Rajender who is the AIIES president and other AIIES staff took stock of the situation. They deliberated as to what precautionary measures should be taken henceforth.
In what seems to be a significant lapse the official said that the carriageway between rows of shops was narrow. This, he said, prevented unfettered movement of fire engines. In order to overcome this problem, it was decided to have permanent water hydrants at the certain places. Furthermore, there were no barrels containing water. This measure too will be taken in the near future.