Fire incidents: Raging with peaking of summer; authorities gear up to tackle
Date :28-May-2024
The Hitavada Team
In wake of recent deadly fire incident held in the Rajkot TRP game zone and Delhi’s hospital, district administration has given strict warning to the concern team for making fire audit of all the game zones, malls, school, colleges and private-government buildings on Monday. District Collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh has given strict warning to check fire NOC of all commercial buildings and also put a curb on sound pollution. The Collector asked SDMs and police team to jointly work on this issue and take strict action against carelessness in any areas. In order to put a tab on fire incidents in Bhopal, a team is being formed on tehsil level to visit the crowded public places like schools, colleges, government offices, private buildings, coaching classes, game zones and malls. The team will be making cross examination of the fire safety provisions and quick response work will be done to resolve the issues. Apart from this, separate notice has been served to the hospitals and nursing home to check fire safety provision. Urban Development and Residential Department has told to the district collectors to check fire safety report of all hospitals and nursing homes on priority basis. Last month, Principal Secretary of Health Department wrote a letter to the Urban Development Department to check fire safety audit in wake of rising incidents. In its order, Commissioner of Urban Development said to complete fire audit report of hospitals and nursing homes under rural areas, municipal corporation and municipality within 15 days and also take care of the Model Code of Conduct. He said to if fire safety provision is not being followed in any building or hospital, action should be taken on serious note. In past one month, many fire incidents have been reported from several corners of Bhopal.
District Collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh
“SDMs and police team is jointly working to take a note on fire safety provision in all public places. Tehsil level teams have been formed to check the government and private buildings, schools, colleges, game zone, malls and other public spots where people gather. Fire safety audit report is must for all commercial buildings. All possible effort is being made to put a curb on such incidents reported from the country.”
Ten incidents so far
Every other day there is a fire incident in the city in which people face financial loss and also creating a kind of panic among the locals.In past 25 days of May, there are at least ten fire incidents in city. On May 6, fire engulf the Union Carbide factory, May 7 Ayodhya Nagar, May 8 co-operative office old secretariat, May 9 Gautam Nagar, May 10 Zone-2 MP Nagar and on May 15, fire engulf shops in Shahjahanabad. On May 26, fire broke out at a two-storey bakery shop in Bhopal’s Sindhi Colony under Kabadkhana area. To douse the fire 25 fire tenders and water tankers were called at the spot. It took five and half hour to douse the fire and entire two storey building was damaged in the fire. On May 27, fire incident was reported from Lokayukta office at Arera Hills.
Fire and Emergency Services Bill on cards
To deal with the rising fire incidents in Bhopal, Department of Urban Development and Housing has recommended implementation of Fire and Emergency Services Bill in Madhya Pradesh on line of several states very soon. Sources said that the process of enacting Fire Service Act was initiated by the Union Government in 2017. After deliberations, final draft and suggestions were sent to states in year 2019. On September 16, 2019, the Union Government circulated model bill to provide for the maintenance of a fire and emergency service for the state Governments to enact or amend existing Fire Service Act.
BMC assures of safety against fire hazards
Amid the recent incidents in the country where a loss of several lives has been reported due to the negligence of the officials, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has assured the safety of the individuals in this regard. “We have 35 fire fighting vans in case of any emergency.” Rameshwar Neel, Fire Officer of the civic body, told ‘The Hitavada’. Further, on being asked about the fire audit report being processed by the corporation, he said that the civic body is preparing the fire audit report and no objection certificates (NOCs) are being asked from the buildings of the city. He further said that there is a process devised by the corporation for obtaining fire NOCs from the corporation and till now 400 certificates have been issued in this regard. “The process is completely online and regular application are being received through the portal.” He said. Notably, in the wake of the recent drowning incidents in the city, Anoop Goyal, City Planner, Building Permission Department of the corporation, also mentioned that the corporation is issuing seven day notices to those marriage homes, resorts and private builders who have failed to present fire safety certificates.
Fire safety: A neglected subject in city hospitals?
In the wake of an unfortunate incident in Delhi on Saturday night, where a massive fire took the lives of at least seven newborn babies, an array of potential fire hazards in hospitals has come to light, affecting dozens of lives. This tragedy has also highlighted the looming danger over various health institutions in the city. Unfortunately, fire incidents in hospitals are not a new phenomenon. In 2021, a similar accident occurred in Bhopal at the Kamla Nehru Children’s Hospital, part of Hamidia Hospital, where at least four newborns died when a fire broke out in the neonatal ward. This raised alarms about safety protocols in hospitals at the time, as it was later revealed that the hospital did not obtain the mandatory fire safety clearance. Given these incidents, concerns about safety are not unwarranted. With the spotlight now on medical institutions, “The Hitavada” investigated the fire safety protocols followed in several city hospitals and found that fire safety is neglected in one prominent hospital.
During a conversation with the JP Hospital administration, an official shared, “We have 70 to 80 fire extinguishers on the premises, covering almost all departments. To ensure fire safety protocols are in place, we contract a private agency to install all fire safety gear. However, major work on installing fire safety protocols is pending from the private agency’s side. Sprinklers are not in working condition as the tank for water storage and other major components are yet to be installed. We are trying to expedite the overall completion process,” highlighting neglect that could prove disastrous in the future. When asked about the NOC (No Objection Certificate) usually obtained from the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), the hospital official stated, “At this moment, I don’t remember the date of receiving the NOC, but I can assure you that all due diligence has been followed and the pending work will be completed soon,” again raising questions about fire safety protocols in the hospital. Shifting perspective to Kasturba Hospital, another hospital in the city, the administration painted a positive picture, expressing, “Kasturba Hospital comes under BHEL administration. BHEL has its own safety department, which takes care of fire safety protocols in the hospital. The safety gear includes fire extinguishers, fire alarms, smoke detectors, hose pipes, and more, which are audited monthly. The CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) fire wing conducts the audits, and the hospital is ISO (International Organisation of Standards) certified.”