Fire threat looms over capital city…

Thiruvananthapuram: The recurring instances of fire outbreaks in buildings in the city expose the dangers due to the relaxations made by the government in rules regarding fire safety as well as trade license norms.
The local self-government department has recently given strict directive to all local bodies to implement the amendments introduced in building rules as part of ease of doing business. The amendments had led to heavy dilution of fire safety norms mandated in building rules for commercial and industrial type of occupancies.
As per the amendment, the certificate of approval from the director of fire force is needed only if the building exceeds 1,000 sq.m plinth area 15m height. For buildings having area between 300 sq.m and 1,000 sq.m and height less than 15m, a self-declaration by the applicant along with a certificate from the engineer who prepared the plan which says that the construction of building conforms to the fire and safety norms is enough. This substitution has also been made applicable for mercantile occupancies.
In a way, both the local bodies and the department of fire & rescue services find their hands tied in imposing fire safety regulations. The director general of fire & rescue services also issued a circular in April this year to all regional fire officers, district fire officers and station officers to accept applications for fire NoC only from buildings under seven categories in corporation areas with plinth area above 1,000 sq.m and height above 15m. In rest of the cases the officials have been asked to return the applications citing the reason. Fire force had to issue this circular in tune with state government’s drive to promote business. Even the senior officials of fire force admit that norms like self-certification work only in highly compliant societies.
“It would be good to have a norm of self-certification in a society with high degree of compliance because it makes the stake holder responsible but in a society like ours with high levels of non-compliance that norm doesn’t make sense,” said a highly placed official with fire & rescue services.
The relaxations under ease of doing business have been imposed in issuance of trade license as well. Local bodies have been directed to stop using the term ‘dangerous and offensive trade license’. Besides, the present practice is to renew license every year by scrutinising every document like NoC from electrical inspectorate, fire and rescue services, PCB, health department and the like. “All these conditions have been relaxed as per new norms, which would make it possible for applicants to bag trade licenses easily and the validity of license has been extended to five years. This has done away with the chance of inspections every year,” an official associated with the health wing of the city corporation said.