Kerala: Fire Force to name, shame violators

KOZHIKODE: The high-rises which do not observe fire safety regulations will face the music from fire force department. From Monday, the department will publish the names of the violators on its website, said Director-General Loknath Behera. The  building owners have continuously failed to update and maintain their fire safety system, he said.

“We will publish the list of the violators on our website and advertise them later if needed. The first list will be prepared from Thiruvananthapuram and this will be done for other districts too. The first list will be that of the repeated violators,” said Mr Behera. He said the present fire force Act was archaic. Mr Behera, who drafted the new futuristic draft, will  present it before the new government.

“The metros like Delhi and Mumbai have better fire force Act, where the fire force personnel have the right to seal the building if the system is not functional.
Here, we can only issue notice to the local body, which in turn gives notice to
the buildings,” Mr Behera added.

The delay in updating of Kerala Fire Force Act, that came into effect in 1962, has clipped  the powers of the department and put the lives of people at risk. The new draft will have a multidisciplinary approach.