Shut shop till you get fire NOC, orders VMC

Vadodara: After the fire incident in a Surat art coaching class that left 19 students dead, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has ordered tuition classes and similar facilities in the city to remain closed from Saturday till they obtain fire safety permissions from the civic body.
While the immediate reason for the directive by municipal commissioner Ajay Bhadoo is the Surat incident, the VMC had also conducted a survey of tuition classes earlier this year after a minor fire in a class in the city. It had come to light that 152 such set ups did not have necessary fire safety measures.
“We had issued notices to these 152 classes, but it came to light that only a handful of them got back to us to get a no-objection certificate after taking necessary steps for fire safety. In wake of the Surat incident, we have decided to start working immediately on such errant set ups and seal the remaining classes if they are found wanting,” said Bhadoo.
Bhadoo further said that there may be several other classes in the city which are not a part of the list prepared by the civic body. To identify such classes, ward-wise teams have been prepared by the civic body that will prepare a list of such classes and check if they have fire safety measures.
The civic body has also decided to check hospitals, restaurants and similar establishments where people gather and could be prone to fire hazards. A similar inspection of hospitals in the city was done after a hospital in the Panigate area of the city was gutted in fire recently.