Fire department rejects CPWD design for two Common Central Secretariat blocks

The Common Central Secretariat is an extension of the Union government’s Central Vista Project, which involves constructing new office buildings to house all 51 government ministries at one place.

New Delhi: The Delhi Fire Services (DFS) has “rejected” the building plans submitted by the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) for the construction of two proposed Common Central Secretariat blocks on Maulana Azad Road due to serious fire and life safety “shortcomings”.

The development comes a month after CPWD sent DFS a request to review the building plans (Representative photo)

The development comes a month after CPWD sent DFS a request to review the building plans of blocks 8 and 9 of the Secretariat.

The Common Central Secretariat is an extension of the Union government’s Central Vista Project, which involves constructing new office buildings to house all 51 government ministries at one place.

According to the letter, the proposal was meant for two blocks — comprising a basement, podium, ground floor and seven upper floors with a total height of 36.9 metres.

The DFS letter, seen by HT, points out 13 “shortcomings” in the design and building plans.

The letter claims that the design “failed” to meet several core safety requirements mandated under the Unified Building Bye Laws (UBBL) 2016 and the National Building Code (NBC) 2016.

It flags the “absence” of a six-metre-wide motorable road with a nine-metre turning radius to facilitate movement of fire tenders. There’s also no proposed “fire and life safety arrangements or smoke management systems,” the letter claimed.

“Second exits have not been proposed in the utility room, services, civil store room, kitchen, sub-station and dining area...Fire check doors are not proposed in the electrical room, store room, driver waiting room, staircase, lift lobby, AHU room, utility room etc” reads the letter.

DFS noted that staircases are “not segregated” at ground level and mandatory fire refuge areas have not been proposed. Fire officials told HT that this could impact rescue operations in case of an emergency.

The letter also states that the design for fire towers had not been proposed, and travel distance and dead-end distances “exceeded” permissible limits. The compartmentation to prevent horizontal fire spread was also “absent,” it claimed.

The DFS communique also points out “no proposed water curtain system” in goods’ lifts, and improper entry provisions to rooms — like the civil store room — and parking management areas that open through occupied spaces — an arrangement prohibited for fire safety reasons.

“In view of the above, the building plans are rejected,” the letter said.

A senior fire officer told HT that the rejection was procedural and not permanent. “The application has been turned down only at this stage due to non-compliance with essential safety standards. The agency can resubmit revised plans after incorporating the required measures. Once deficiencies are rectified, approval will be reconsidered.”