Fire safety: All hospitals under NMC’s scanner
   Date :12-Jan-2021

Dr Parineeta Fuke_1 
 Dr Parineeta Fuke, the only Corporator who visited NMC hospital in her Prabhag to check fire safety arrangements.
 
 
Principal Correspondent :
 
Mayor talks with CFO, Corporator Dr Parineeta Fuke visits IGR
 
Everybody has taken serious cognizance of the tragedy at Bhandara District Hospital. The authorities in Nagpur have also started taking steps so that such incidents should not take place here. On Monday, Nagpur Municipal Commissioner B Radharkrishnan, Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari took stock of the situation separately and passed necessary instructions. According to sources, Government as well as private hospitals will be under scanner of the civic body as far as applying fire safety norms are concerned.
 
While talking to ‘The Hitavada’ on this issue, B Radhakrishnan said, “Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) would act aggressively and take measures that include fire safety audit. I have asked all the hospitals including private ones to act faster on this matter. The new Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR) has given an independent chapter on this issue that shows how serious Government is about fire safety.” Radhakrishnan on Monday talked to all officials including Chief Fire Officer. As per the information, most hospitals including the NMC’s had their proposals regarding procuring fire safety equipment, holding fire safety audit pending with the Government. “The fire safety in hospitals is a very serious issue and we have to deal it with utmost care.
 
I must admit that the issue of fire safety has been grossly neglected in Government, private as well as the hospitals run by us,” pointed out Radhakrishnan. Since Mayor was busy in several other issues related to public, he had contacted CFO and asked him to convene a meeting where all the details of fire safety would be discussed. Surprisingly, no other officer or public representative has taken any initiative, has not taken pains to visit and get information about the fire safety arrangements in hospitals in Nagpur, except Corporator Dr Parineeta Fuke. Dr Fuke visited Indira Gandhi Rugnalaya (IGR) that comes in her Prabhag.
 
On Monday, during her visit Dr Fuke interacted with the health officers. During the interaction, she came to know that the proposal for fire safety submitted by IGR is pending. She visited every ward, laboratory, talked to medicos, paramedics to know the situation of safety in the hospital. She will be preparing a detailed report of IGR. As pointed out by Radhakrishnan new UDCPR has taken well care of fire safety issue. UDCPR’s Point number iii of 2.14 clearly talks about penalties to be imposed with regards to violation of fire safety norms in the buildings. It says, ‘Any person who neglects any requirements or obligations imposed on him including the maintenance of fire protection services, appliances and lifts in working order or who interferes with or obstructs any person in the discharge of his duties shall be guilty of an offence as specified in Section 36 of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006 and, upon conviction, shall be subject to penalties and other’.