Three days after a fire broke out at a coaching centre in Surat, students’ union Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS) has asked the state education department to ensure that fire safety audits are conducted in schools and coaching classes across the state.

“In light of the recent incident, there have been concerns about the safety of students in coaching classes, schools and colleges. While there are rules that mandate all these institutes to have fire safety equipment in place, one can find many of them not following the norms, thus leaving students under grave risk...while routine fire audits need to be conducted; their reports have to be sent to the fire brigade,” reads the letter. The student wing has asked the department to instruct its officials to ensure that audit reports are submitted.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Class Owners Association (MCOA) said it will train around 1,000 coaching class owners in fire safety and disaster management at an event, which will be held at Ravindra Natya Mandir in Prabhadevi on June 1. “While we have already asked classes to ensure that they have fire safety equipment, this event will help them understand the practical aspects of the same, which will be useful in unforeseen circumstances,” said Sachin Karnavat, president, MCOA.

The Coaching Classes Proprietor’s Association in Maharashtra (CCPA) has also asked all of its members to ensure that their classes are fire-compliant. “We will visit all these classes personally to see if they have the necessary arrangements,” said Satish Deshmukh, president, CCPA. The fire broke out on Friday at a coaching centre in Takshashila Complex, Surat, leaving 22 students dead.

First Published: May 28, 2019 00:12 IST