UP CM Yogi Adityanath orders statewide fire safety audit in schools, hospitals & hotels

LUCKNOW: CM Yogi Adityanath has directed all schools, hospitals, hotels etc in the state to carry out a fire safety audit. From April 14-20 this year, government has organised a statewide Fire Safety Week with an emphasis on 'Prevention is better than Cure'.
As part of that programme, the past five months have seen checking of all fire and electrical safety measures in public and government buildings. Weekly audits and mock drills were carried out at places including banks, schools, coaching institutes, hospitals, nursing homes, malls and multiplexes, industrial establishments, petrol pumps, government buildings, and apartments of over 15 metres height.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath formed a team of two senior officials - divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob and police commissioner SB Shirodkar - to investigate the fire incident. The CM, who visited the injured at SPM Hospital, also issued directions to all schools, hospitals, hotels in UP to carry out a fire safety audit.
DG fire services, Avinash Chandra said, "On CM's directions, a campaign regarding fire audit, safety, and evacuation is being conducted in all hospitals, nursing homes, and hotels across the state on September 5 and 6."
A senior official in CM's office said a similar audit had been carried out in April earlier as well but in the light of Monday's incident, the directive had been renewed.
"Such audits are normally carried out annually but to avoid a similar incident, especially with high temperatures which could have put a greater stress on electrical connections, it would be in everyone's best interests to again carry out the review at buildings which get a high daily footfall," he said.
As part of the campaign, the past five months have seen checking of all fire and electrical safety measures in public and government buildings. Weekly fire audits and mock drills were carried out at places, including banks, schools, coaching institutes, hospitals, nursing homes, malls and multiplexes, industrial establishments, petrol pumps, government buildings, residential apartments of over 15 metres height, firecrackers storage houses, powerplant, airport and metro stations.
The two-member team of the DC and police commissioner, have been tasked with reviewing all aspects of the incident to establish the cause of the fire and fix responsibility for the incident. "The two senior officials will be looking at the cause behind the fire and whether it had followed all safety norms. The team will also look at the role of fire fighters and related aspects to the accident," said an official. The team has been asked to submit its report to the CM at the earliest.