The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) chairperson, Naresh Kumar, has ordered a fire audit of all the high-rise buildings that are owned by the council after a blaze broke out at the NDMC headquarters in Palika Kendra, on Saturday evening. There are at least 17 such structures including one occupied by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Parliament Street, said officials.

A fire had erupted in the kitchen area of Palika Kendra after which five fire tenders were called to douse it. No one was injured as it happened during the off-duty hours.

A senior official said, “The chairperson inspected if sprinklers in the building are working on Monday. This was done by artificially raising the temperature of the area. Thankfully, they were found well-functioning. After that, he ordered an immediate audit of all buildings under us which will be repeated every six months. Plus, one such audit with the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) will be done annually.”

Palika Kendra is the tallest building owned by NDMC which has 20 floors.

However, the council owns about 400 more properties of which around 17 are high-rises. These include Chandralok Bhavan, Pragati Building, Yashwant Place, Lok Nayak Bhavan and Chanakya Bhawan, among others.

First Published: Jun 05, 2019 06:53 IST