Govt buildings in Karnal sans fire NOC

Parveen Arora

Karnal, January 13

Lives of hundreds of people who visit government offices every day are put to risk in case of an emergency as most of the government buildings in the city have not bothered to get no objection certificates (NOCs) from the Fire Department of the Karnal Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Ensure compliance of norms

We will get the NOC soon. We will also ensure compliance of norms in all offices. We will issue notices to officials concerned, asking them to follow norms of fire safety and obtain an NOC — Manoj Kumar, Commissioner, KMC

Officials to check NOCs

The City Magistrate and the Fire Safety Officer have been directed to check the NOCs of all government departments and issue notices accordingly. — Nishant Kumar Yadav Deputy Commissioner

Rules should be same for all

Last week, the Fire Department issued notices to 28 hotels, restaurants and banquet halls for not having the NOC, but the department did not issue any notice to the government offices. The implementation of norms should be the same for everyone. — Rajesh Sharma, RTI Activist

An RTI query filed by a Karnal-based RTI activist Rajesh Sharma revealed that buildings of government offices have only fire safety equipment. The Fire Safety Officer (FSO) also admitted, while talking with The Tribune, that most of the key departments, including both buildings of Mini-Secretariat, Judiciary Complex, building of Power Corporation in Sector12, Haryana Shari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) office, both malls, income tax office, EPF office, Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC), Civil Hospital and others are without the NOC, which is mandatory.

The new building of the KMC, under which the Fire Department comes, does not have the NOC so far. This building was inaugurated recently by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. “We have shortlisted the departments and we will issue letters so that they can obtainNOC,” said Rajiv Bhardwaj, FSO.

“The NOC is compulsory under the Haryana Fire Services Act 2009 and National Building Code of India 1983, revised, 2005/2016 part-IV. It is given only after the owners of the building file applications with the Fire Department. Non-compliance is an offence, punishable under the Act,” said the RTI reply.

RTI activist Sharma had also sought information on the number of private hospitals, and schools having the NOC. The relief is that most of the hospitals and private schools have the NOC.

“The fire NOC is mandatory for all establishments, but in Karnal which is city of the Chief Minister, the buildings of key government departments had been constructed without the fire NOC and nobody has taken the initiative to file for it,” said Sharma.

Last week, the Fire Department issued notices to 28 hotels, restaurants and banquet halls for not having the NOC, but the department did not issue any notice to the government offices, he added. He said the implementation of norms should be the same for everyone.

Manoj Kumar, Commissioner, KMC, said the KMC had applied for the NOC and inspection for which has already been done by the authorities concerned. “We will get the NOC soon. We will also ensure compliance of norms in all offices. We will issue notices to officials concerned, asking them to follow norms of fire safety and obtain an NOC,” said the Commissioner.

Deputy Commissioner, Nishant Kumar Yadav, said the City Magistrate and the FSO have been directed to check the NOCs of all government departments and issue notices accordingly.