Bengaluru: Fix fire safety or lose power, malls told

Bengaluru: The fire department is all set to crack down on malls in the city which have failed to adhere to fire safety norms. With the deadline to fall in line expiring on February 29, malls that have failed to comply may find their power supply disconnected.

The department warns it will write to Bescom listing the malls which have not taken fire safety precautions and advise it to cut off their power connection. In all 27 malls have been issued notices by the fire department for failing to comply with the  safety norms laid down by the National Building Code of India guidelines. The department acted after it found that the driveways of some of these malls were used for storage or parking, obstructing  free movement of  vehicles during emergencies.  Most of these malls had also stored LPG cylinders in their  basements instead of open spaces as required.  

The fire department  first gave them a week to fall in line and then on their request gave them another 15 days until February 29. “Some of the malls have set things right and some have not. There are only a few more days left for them to do so. If they still do not comply, we will write to Bescom asking it disconnect their power supply,” warns Mr N. R. Markandeya, Deputy Director of the fire and emergency department, adding that the malls are unlikely to get more time. The department will do an inspection of the malls on February 29 to see how far  they have complied with its safety norms.

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Malls are also high-rise buildings as any structure that is over 15 meters tall falls into this category under the fire safety guidelines. It is unfortunate that we have a general tendency to neglect all safety measures until something disastrous happens.

Under the guidelines, malls must  have sprinklers, fire extinguishers, a wet fire system, a public alert system, proper signages, and unhindered passage for emergency vehicles.  But most  have totally disregarded these fire safety measures. In the past there was no provision for the fire department to inspect buildings for fire safety norms and so the owners took advantage. Once they got the No Objection Certificate from the fire department, they modified their building plans to accommodate more commercial activity and goods.

But after the Carlton Towers tragedy, the High Court directed the government to empower the fire department to inspect high -rise buildings, following which a notification was issued by the government on July 7, 2011.  It authorized the fire department to inspect high- rise buildings once in two years and to write to the power and water supply authorities to cut off their services to buildings that did not have fire safety measures in place.

However,  a shortage of staff is coming in the way of carrying  out such  inspections as there are thousands of high- rise buildings in Bengaluru alone. So the malls themselves need to be committed to ensuring the safety of  visitors by strictly adhering to fire safety norms as they too will suffer if there is an accident.