A view of one of the damaged rooms at the Sector 32 paying guest accommodation, where a fire broke out on February 22, 2020. (Photo: Express Archive)
With three women losing their lives and a retail store gutted in Phase V, the safety of buildings from fire incidents has come into spotlight. In Mohali, hundreds of paying guest facilities are being run without any fire safety arrangements while the district administration is yet to take any action against 693 commercial units, mostly showrooms where coaching centers are being run.
After the fire incident in Sector 32, Chandigarh, the district fire department wrote to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and Municipal Corporation (MC) to provide a list of registered PG accommodations in the city but the fire department failed to get any reply from the civic bodies.
Last week, Assistant Divisional Fire Officer (ADFO) Krishan Lal Kakkar told Newsline that he is yet to get the list of PG accommodations to inspect.
“We are doing it on our own. We have been to PGs in the peripheral areas and issued 20 notices so far, but we did not get any reply from either GMADA or from MC,” he added.
Pavitter Pal Singh Virdi, who has fought a long battle against illegal PG accommodations in the city, said apart from creating a nuisance, the PG accommodations are not safe for the tenants as there are no fire safety systems.
“The civic body and the district administration are turning a blind eye to the violation of rules and are endangering the lives of hundreds of people. Despite our repeated requests, nothing has been done to either close such facilities or ensure the safety of people living there,” he stated.
Virdi said he along with others will hold a protest in case the administration does not take steps in this direction.
At present, only 26 PG accommodations are registered with GMADA while more than 500 illegal PGs are being run in the city.
Officiating Deputy Commissioner Ashika Jain said she has already directed the fire department to issue notices to PGs and other commercial establishments violating the fire safety measures.
A fire audit was conducted in the district in September last year, following which 693 notices were issued to commercial establishments for violating the fire safety norms but the district administration and the civic body did not take any action against the violators.