Only 31 hotels, eateries have NOC from fire dept in Hisar
Deepender Deswal
Hisar, April 9
In a blatant disregard for fire safety norms at hotels, restaurants and other hospitality units, only 31 out of 137 such units have procured the requisite no objection certificate (NOC) from the Fire and Emergency Services Department in Hisar.
MANY HOTELS IN CONGESTED AREAS
- The town has a number of hotels and restaurants in the bus stand area, Red Square Market, Dabra Chowk area, Jindal Chowk area, among other locations
- Some of these areas are congested and thickly populated
- Shopkeepers say these hotels should have a proper fire safety system as any fire in the area was likely to spread quickly and engulf the surrounding buildings too
NO FEAR OF ACTION
Hotel owners have a strong lobby, which is why they ignore fire safety norms as they have no fear of action. Officials concerned, too, have failed to take note of violations in hotels and restaurants despite a fire incident having occurred (at a restaurant) 2 years backRs — Suresh Sharma, Resident
Officials said as the data was old, the number of hotels and restaurants might have gone above 137 in the recent past in Hisar town.
The town has a number of hotels and restaurants in the vicinity of the bus stand, Red Square market, Dabra Chowk, Jindal Chowk, among other locations. Some of the places, especially the bus stand and Red Square market areas, are congested and thickly populated. Shopkeepers in these localities said these hotels, which are multi-storeyed buildings, should have a proper fire safety system as any fire in the area was likely to spread quickly and engulf the surrounding buildings too.
A fire at Ram Chat Bhandar, a restaurant in the Rajguru Market, the main market of the town, two years ago had resulted in the death of a 14-years-old worker who got trapped in the six-storeyed building. The Fire and Emergency Services department had pointed out gross violations of fire safety norms in the building at that time and the restaurant had not procured an NOC from the department.
Suresh Sharma, a resident, said hotel owners had a strong lobby, which was why they ignored fire safety norms on their premises as they had no fear of action. “Despite one such incident having occurred in the town, the officials concerned have failed to take note of the violations by hotel and restaurant owners,” he said.
However, an official of the department said they had served notices to the hotels which did not have the requisite NOC. “We send the report of violation of norms to the higher authorities which have the power to take further action against them,” said the official. He said they would soon start a fresh survey of the hospitality units in the town as their number had gone up.
