Help…Help..Save us from FIRE! 389 High-Rise Buildings in DK Dist Don’t have NOC from Fire Dept

Help…Help..Save us from FIRE! 389 High-Rise Buildings in DK Dist Don’t have NOC from Fire Dept

Help…Help..Save us from FIRE! Recent audit by Fire Department reveals that 389 High-Rise Buildings ( C Category Buildings) in Dakshina Kannada District which were constructed before the New Fire Policy was implemented Don’t have No Objection Certificate (NOC) nor a Clearance Certificate (CC) from Fire Department.

Mangaluru : Just imagine what would be the fate of the residents living in as many as 389 high-rise buildings in Dakshina Kannada, out of which 90% are located within City limits, if fire brigade/engines won’t be able to reach to the site due to narrow pathway/road, definitely it will be a “DEATH TRAP”. And all these 389 high-rise buildings were constructed prior to the New Fire Policy was implemented in India, and therefore none of them have a CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE (CC) nor a NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE (NOC) from the Fire Department.

During a recent audit conducted by the Fire Department it was revealed that majority of the buildings which were commercial and residential, also including a few educational institutions had no NOC nor CC, and have not adhered to the safety norms prescribed by the Fire Department. So, the question arising now is, Who gave these buildings the licence to go ahead with their project without having no proper safety norms. It is learnt that the fire department authorities have issued notices to all the owners of these non-safety buildings, and rectify the issue at the earliest.

As per N Shivashankar, the Chief Fire Officer, Dakshina Kannada speaking to media had said, “Buildings are categorized as A, B, C and D-whereas we have found that all buildings that have constructed under A and B categories ( a total of 183 of them) have compiled with the safety standards, whereas C category (high-rise) buildings, a total of 389 of them have failed to adhere to the safety norms. Notices have been served to all these 389 high-rise buildings to adopt all fire safety norms at early as possible. All these C category buildings were built before the new fire safety norms were implemented in India and therefore none of these buildings have NOC or CC.

He further had said, “Many other buildings obtain licence during construction not mentioning about how many floors, but once they get the licence they slowly add more floors, and that’s when the building becomes illegal to exist. And the problem with these buildings arise when a fire breaks out and there’s no access to fire brigade/engines to reach to the site nor there are any fire safety facilities in the building, resulting in loss of lives or severe injuries. It should be noted that there are nearly 28,000 C Category buildings in Karnataka alone. Sources reveal also reveal that as per the norms prescribed by National Building Code (NBC) , any building with G + 3 ( Ground floor plus three floors) or above 15 meter in height is considered a High-Rise and they have to mandatory comply with Fire Safety Norms.

In conclusion, in my perspective, apart from high-rise buildings, if you look at some of the pubs, bars and lounges which are packed during weekends, and in case of emergency during a fire, there are hardly any safety exits or safety kits. Some of the pubs have only one front door, and imagine what would be the fate during fire emergency. Even though various cafes and pubs come under the category of low-rise buildings, but are running without proper fire safety measures in the city. Some have no separate fire exit and their entries are narrow. The cafes that have fire exit doors sometimes utilize the space to store various things. Fire safety exit blocked with kitchen equipment.

According to the Indian National Building Code 2016, assembly buildings should have fire extinguishers, first aid kits, manual alarms, and automatic alarms in some cases. The high-rise buildings are supposed to obtain NOC (No-Objection Certificate) from the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services. Also many low-rise eateries in the City lack basic fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers. When asked why, an owner cum manager of a watering-hole said , “there are no such laws for eateries on the ground floor or the first floor. “. Oh well- I guess his clients have to be grilled to death, like his pub kebabs in case of fire?

Fire hazard is a possibility today because of more electric energy consumption. So, be it a high-rise or low-rise, fire mitigation equipment is a necessity that should be made mandatory in fire hazard establishments of all sizes. Many a times people don’t even bother to look at the fire exit doors, it is only when there’s a breakout, they panic, which often leads to some injury. Thus, it should be the responsibility of the owners to install fire safety measures and should have a separate fire exit door. It is the responsibility of owners to budget in extra money and make sure all safety measures are in place. Pubs and cafes should be constructed with integration in the landscape, lots of open space, and with a fire refuge area to escape easily. The cafes constructed on the ground floor should have separate emergency doors and the ones upstairs should have compulsory fire staircase. Bud sadly, such safety norms lack in many such pubs, bars and lounges in the City. Guess, our fire officials are waiting for a big fire tragedy to happen, and only then enforce strict fire safety standards. Bah humbug!