As space is most precious in wholesale markets of city, big traders are now concentrating on rooftops of buildings to carry out alterations for creating storage space. The development, though an off shoot of necessity, is now proving troublesome for Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), especially for the Fire and Emergency Department in the event of fire. The small alleys, and no space between buildings have already made task for the fire fighters difficult. And now, the creation of enclosure with no access and no ventilation is a sure recipe for disaster. As per information from market watchers, nearly 50 odd buildings in Itwari, Gandhibagh, Maskasath and surrounding areas have seen emergence of such fire risk godowns on the roofs. The fact came to fore in aftermath of a fire on the rooftop of a famous showroom in Gandhibagh area.

 

The problem in these markets is that they being in old city area, the development has not been uniform, nor is there any adherence to rules. The issue is quite alarming as the other day, fire fighters almost found themselves in helpless situation to reach the spot from where the fire had started. In aftermath of dousing the flames, the fire-fighters were left stumped on finding that the room lacked even ventilation and the goods stored in it were packed to capacity, leaving little room for even breathing. Since the roof is being used for storage, the construction being done is almost solid to prevent damage to goods. Hence, even the tin shed was impregnable as same hampered the firemen from concentrating on the flames inside the room.

 

The question that emerges is what the regulators at NMC are doing. As to rules, the UDCPR states that roof top cannot be covered. It’s compulsory to keep the roofs open and same was incorporated post series of incidents of fire in the State. The reason was simple, in times of emergency, the empty roof provides easy for fire-fighters to access the higher reaches. But given the stretched manpower and political pressure the officials are quite on weak ground to enforce the rules. So till a big tragedy does not occur, the authorities lack will power to ensure that big, powerful and mighty stick to rules. Till then also, the weak and powerless would continue to face the burden of sticking to rules so that rich and powerful can continue the illegality with impunity, said the people who do not wish to be quoted. Since the goods brought in for sale is in huge quantity, the small space in the stores is not enough to meet the needs of the trade. Thus, over the years, first the buildings in alleys first got converted into huge godowns.

 

One is amazed as to how these old structures suddenly become multi-storeyed as same in time of fire becomes almost impossible to reach. The big water tenders cannot reach near the fire spot leaving fire fighters to lay the hoses quite away from the actual spot which actually delays the response and also creates hurdle in fire fighting operations. Now even the tall buildings are falling short of demands, business houses are tapping the rooftops. Fire Brigade said they are helpless to cross check such violation in absence of any complaints. In case they receive any complaints, their guide book is limited to National Building Code (NBC).