Ignoring fire safety norms: Hyderabad sitting on tinderbox

HYDERABAD: A string of fire accidents —including the massive one at the annual industrial fare Numaish — that shook the Hyderabadis recently have come as no surprise for many. Not at least for the those who are aware of the prevalent dangerous practices and hence have been expressing concerns over the safety issues in the State’s capital city.And now those fears have officially been confirmed after a series of inspections of the shopping complexes and commercial establishments conducted by the GHMC.

The municipal corporation’s inspections revealed that the city is sitting on a virtual tinderbox as more than 50 per cent of buildings that house restaurants, hotels, hostels, hospitals, schools, colleges and function halls have no mandatory No Objection Certificates (NOCs) on fire safety.

Municipal Administration & Urban Development (MAUD) Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar, during his recent inspections, had observed a serious lacunae with respect to compliance to fire safety standards by commercial buildings and complexes.

This, calls for GHMC to take immediate measures to ensure compliance to fire safety norms.There are about 6,500 shopping complexes, function halls, multiplexes and commercial buildings in the city. Only around 3,200 have obtained NOC between 2010 and 2018.

In GHMC limits, there are also about 150 cinema theatres, 2,220 schools, 510 junior colleges, 755 bars and restaurants, 1,650 hospitals and nursing homes, 625 hotels, 375 function halls and 310 shopping malls. Since 2010, the GHMC issued NOCs to 29 cinema halls, 41 functional halls, 291 colleges, 305 commercial buildings, 900 educational institutions, among others.

Though a few hundred new multi storied complexes have come up from 2017 onwards not many have come forward to obtain NOC, GHMC officials pointed out.         

Need for vulnerability analysis

Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar felt that there is an urgent need for GHMC to get vulnerability analysis done on all densely populated, important and hazardous buildings in various locations in its jurisdiction, assess and fix the requirement of equipment and manpower so that accidents are prevented and if they occur, are tackled promptly.

There is an urgent need for a planned move to ensure revamping of the fire services in these buildings, he said.The Principal Secretary directed the GHMC Commissioner to appoint special teams to conduct fire and safety audit.