RTI: Only 1% Karnal govt schools have fire safety NOC

Parveen Arora

Advertisement

Karnal, March 16

The safety of students in government schools does not seem to be a priority as only 1 per cent of schools in the district have fire safety permits.

Of the 780 government schools across the district, only eight have taken fire safety permits from the Fire Department. The situation in colleges is almost similar. The shocking figure came to the fore in a reply to an RTI query collected by The Tribune.

City-based RTI activist Rajesh Sharma had filed an RTI regarding the number of educational institutes having fire NOC.

The reply said only eight government schools – Government Model Sanskriti Senior Secondary School in Taraori, Nissing, Nigdhu, Gharaunda, Model Town (Karnal city), Padha village and Biana village had secured a fire NOC.

The reply also gave the list of colleges that possessed a fire NOC. They are Kalpana Chawla Governmnet Medical College, DAV PG College, Shri Ram College of Pharmacy, RPIIT College of Education Trust, BRM College of Education, Guru Brahmanand ji Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Anjanthali.

The Fire Department also informed in the reply that they had served notices to eight colleges in the district — DAV College for Women, Railway Road; Pt Chiranjilal Sharma Government College, Sector 14; Dyal Singh College; Khalsa College; Government College for Women, Railway Road; and Government College, Jaisinghpura in Assandh — for not securing a fire NOC so far.

As per the Haryana Fire Service Act, all educational institutions must have an NOC, without which, a building was not deemed fit to tackle potential fire hazard, said an official.

The reply further stated that the department had not issued fire NOC to any dharamshala and temple so far.

Rajpal, District Education Officer (DEO), stated that earlier, it was not mandatory for schools to obtain a fire NOC.

Not mandatory earlier

Earlier, it was not mandatory for schools to obtain a fire NOC. Our eight Model Sanskriti Schools have the NOC. I will check the new guidelines and accordingly, we will get the NOC if required. — Rajpal, District Education Officer

Schools to get notice

It is mandatory for all educational institutes to have a fire safety NOC. We have served notices on colleges and will soon issue it to schools as well. Almost all private schools have fire safety NOC. — Rajiv Bhardwaj, fire station officer