Built in 1996, Vyapar Kendra in Sushant Lok Phase-1, is among Gurugram’s most crammed markets with 200 shops, 140 offices and numerous make-shift kiosks of food, clothes and other sundry items vying for space in its six-feet-wide corridors that snake up and down the building’s five floors, including the basement.

With a daily footfall of over 3,000 people, the building is extremely vulnerable to a major disaster in the eventuality of a blaze, fire department officials said.

Fire department officials added that the no-objection certificate( NOC) of the complex has not been renewed since September 2015. The traders’ association, responsible for the building’s upkeep, was issued several show-cause notices and objections under relevant sections of the Fire Services Act, but it failed to fix the short-comings (see box). The matter is now in the district court, with a hearing scheduled on March 26.

“As per the building plan, shops or offices are not allowed to operate in basements. However, many such establishments are functioning out of the basement in Vyapar Kendra. The paths leading to the four ground floor fire exits are blocked by make-shift shops. Though the market has fire controlling measures, they have many shortcomings. For instance, the sprinkler system is not functioning, hose pipes are missing and valves are absent. All these issues have been raised on numerous occasions with the association members, but they are yet to fix them,” assistant divisional fire safety officer IS Kashyap said.

Among the many violations cited by the fire department officials, and also spotted by Hindustan Times during a spot visit on Thursday, are the encroached corridors and exits. To make matters worse, the service road leading to the complex is flanked by numerous unauthorized shops and haphazardly parked vehicles.

Fire department officials said these factors can together severely hamper the rescue operation in case of a fire as their tenders will not be able to reach the building.

The fire exit of the Vyapar Kendra is blocked by discarded material, shops and kiosks. (Yogendra Kumar/HT Photo )

Regular visitors and shopkeepers also voiced concern over the complex’s lack of preparedness in the event of a fire.

Vikas, a shopkeeper, said, “The issue of blocked fire exits on the ground floor is raked up before each committee election. However, nobody has come up with a solution, possibly due to lack of willingness or lack of interest. It seems that people in the market will only take note of these problems after a fire breaks out.”

Sushant Lok Phase-1 resident Mandeep Makkar, who has been going to the complex regularly since he was a child, said that since all the shops practically share a wall with each other, a blaze here will spread have a domino effect.

“The complex is like a maze. The shops and offices are stacked one against the other. In case of a fire, it will take seconds for the next shop or office to catch fire. The corridors are only getting narrower with encroachments. Anyone trapped here when a fire breaks out has slim chance of escaping,” Makkar said.

The Vyapar Kendra is one of the most crammed markets in Gurugram with 200 shops, 140 offices and numerous make-shift kiosks. (Yogendra Kumar/HT Photo )

Explaining why encroachments have sprung up across floors, Kasif Sailmani, a barber in the complex, said that since the rent for the shopcum-offices was extremely high, tenants lease a section of the shop, including a portion of corridor, to make-shift shops as a way to meet the rent.

“The monthly rent for my shop is Rs 41,000. I cannot afford it. So, I have allowed another person to set up a small mobile accessories shop in the corridor outside. He also contributes to the rent, and that’s how we co-exist. Rents here even cross Rs 2 lakh per month. Therefore, tenants find it viable to include make-shift shops in their shops to recover a portion of the rent,” Sailmani said.

When contacted for a comment on the matter, Vyapar Kendra Association president Tej Singh said, “The NOC has not been renewed since 2016 because the fire department officials kept finding discrepancies in our implementation and hence the matter will be taken up before the district court next month. From our side, barring submission of building plan in regards to the basement, we have fixed all discrepancies cited by the department. We have apprised the fire department that the basement is not in our possession.”

First Published: Feb 15, 2019 15:34 IST