Fire safety norms up in smoke at Jr colleges

Fire safety norms up in smoke at Jr colleges
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As many as 130 Intermediate private colleges out of 146 in Karimnagar district have been running without fire safety certificate (FSC), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

Hyderabad: As many as 130 Intermediate private colleges out of 146 in Karimnagar district have been running without fire safety certificate (FSC), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

According to the information gathered from RTI, the applications of 50 colleges have been pending for renewal for fire safety certificate, while the others have not applied for any such permission.

Around 61,000 students are studying in 146 inter private colleges. Of total students, 28,000 were in first year and 25,000 were in second year. And also around 8,600 are studying in vocational colleges.

According to Mohammad Ameer, an RTI activist, he had to face lot of problems in getting the details from the government. He said he sought specific details of government and private intermediate private colleges in Karimnagar district from Public Information Officer, Intermediate Regional Inspecting Officer (RIO) office, Karimnagar district on June 1.

On June 29, L Suhasini, RIO asked him to pay Rs 5,000 to get the photocopies of required information and get additional information from the office and inspect the records. Ameer then wrote to the first appellate authority stating that the RIO had demanded Rs 5,000 for providing photocopies.

As there was no response from RIO, Ameer approached State Information Commission on whose intervention the RIO gave some details.

When contacted, Suhasini, RIO refused to comment saying that higher authorities would look into the issue.Meanwhile, M Malhar Rao, Regional Joint Director, Intermediate Education, Warangal said from next academic year the colleges should get the FSC from June to March.

Dr P Madhusudhan Reddy, president, Government Junior Lecturers’ Association, Telangana, told The Hans India that the functioning of Inter board was apathetic and it had been playing with the lives of thousands of students.

Not only FSC, around 95 per cent private colleges in Karimnagar district did not have affiliation, he said. Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Additional Director Lakshmi Prasad said, “The establishments which do not have fire safety will be summoned under Section 2 and Section 4 of Fire Safety Act. If they fail to respond within a month's time, they will be subjected to prosecution by the Courts as it is matter of human life.”

By:V Naveen Kumar

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