Playing with fire: Safety norms take a backseat

75 per cent of small establishments do not have no objection certificates

Hyderabad: Fire safety precautions becomes a hot topic of discussion only whenever there is a fire mishap; otherwise, they are put safely on the backburner or fade into oblivion. Fire officials, who instruct property and shop owners to take No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire Services Department before applying for building or shop permission, seem to go on deaf ears. Even if the NOC is issued, the Fire Services Department on the other hand has no mechanism to check whether the building or shop owners really conform with fire safety rules or not.

It is learnt that more than 75 per cent of small establishments do not have NOC issued by the fire department and pose a serious risk to the safety of people. However, fire officials admit that they are helpless as they cannot take any stern action against those flouting fire norms. “The most we can do is to go the legal way but again they get away easily by paying a fine,” a senior fire official said, requesting anonymity.

The Fire Prevention Wing (FPW) of GHMC earlier issued legal notices to shop owners in the last one year, but they did not comply with fire safety norms due to lack of coordination between the different owners, the officials said. “Electrical short-circuit happens to be one of the main causes for increasing fire mishaps in the city.

The shop owners surpass the load capacity and add up additional electrical gadgets which leads to rise in the electrical load and results a major fire,” assistant District Fire Officer, T Srinivas said, adding that they do not even bother to apply for safety certificates. However, shop owners maintain that installation of fire safety equipment was costly and it was not possible for a small retail shop owner to go for such equipments. However, fire officials say that they are free to give advice and assistance in such cases.