Shift godowns from residential areas to outskirts, says Kishan Reddy

HYDERABAD: Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday urged the State government to shift godowns and warehouses operating in residential areas without necessary permissions to the outskirts of the city.Kishan also asked the government to ascertain whether structures that have permission were following fire safety standards, so that mishaps like the fire that ravaged a sports store on Minister Road in Secunderabad could be prevented in the future. Kishan visited the site of the fire accident on Friday and also spoke to the residents of the colony who were affected by the toxic smoke that enveloped the area.

He instructed officials concerned to provide food and shelter to those living in fear of the fire-ravaged building collapsing. The Union Minister also asked the officials to set up a medical camp to check the impact of the toxic smoke on the people’s health.BJP leader and former vice-chairman of the national disaster management authority Marri Shashidhar Reddy wrote to Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, urging her to conduct a thorough study with a detailed documentation of the incident, including the efforts made to douse the flames.

Observing that there was a delay in bringing the fire under control, Shashidhar Reddy said that officials had found it difficult to get water tankers to fill up the empty fire engines.He felt that there was also an immediate need to constitute a committee of experts to make a comprehensive study, document response actions, identify defects, shortcomings, and make recommendations for prevention and better preparedness- all in a time-bound and transparent manner.

Observing that the Thursday’s incident was the third major fire accident in 10 months in Secunderabad, leaving 19 people dead in the first two incidents, Shashidhar Reddy felt that except for the people’s representatives making photo-ops and giving statements every time, investigations into the causes of such accidents weren’t made public.