90% coaching centres sans Fire Dept nod

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 10

The fire incident in Delhi that took 43 lives should be a wake-up call for the authorities of Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC) as well as the district administration as most establishments here are running without proper fire safety arrangements.

Most shops in the old city are in congested residential areas and have no proper fire safety arrangements. If a fire breaks out at places like Karan Gate market, Sarafa Bazar, scooter market, Hanuman Gali, Ghosian Mohalla, Jatto Mohalla or old Sadar Bazar, it will be a difficult task for fire tenders to reach there.

Also, wires were hanging loosely overhead, posing a serious threat to the lives of people.

According to a survey conducted by Fire Department of the KMC, there are 631 buildings in the city which include schools, colleges, hospitals, hotels, auditorium, coaching centres, cinema, hostel and multi-storey buildings.

Of those, 373 buildings have been surveyed and no-objection certificate (NOC) was given to only 194 establishments. The KMC has served notice to 252 establishments, asking those to take corrective measures and install advanced fire-fighting equipment.

As many as 15 massive fires took place in the past year that led to the death of four persons — three in Ram Nagar area and one in Meera Ghati chowk.

Coaching centres seem to be waiting for a similar incident to happen as 90 per cent of those are running without a no-objection certificate (NOC). Moreover, most of those do not have proper fire safety arrangements in place.

Majority of the centres are situated in multi-storey buildings with no emergency door, having a single narrow entry point and classrooms in temporary cabins made of wood along with the number of students exceeding their capacity. Several centres are running in basements.

Nishant Kumar Yadav, Commissioner, KMC, admitted that several establishments are violating fire safety norms. He said, “We have served notice to 252 establishments and directed them to comply with norms within 15 days. Otherwise, action will be initiated against them. We have also directed the coaching centres and hotels to take/renew fire NOC from the department.”

He said that they have included two bike fire brigades in the fleet for congested areas.