MCD to form panel for fire audit of newly recognised schools

A letter sent by Delhi mayor Raja Iqbal Singh to the MCD education department, and seen by HT, directs education committee chairman Yogesh Verma to “constitute a committee of councillors who may conduct an inspection of the schools to which recognition was granted by the education department to ascertain the fire safety, and a report be submitted to the mayor within a week”.

After a fire at a nightclub in Goa claimed 25 lives, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Thursday announced that it will soon form a committee to inspect newly recognised private schools for adherence to fire safety norms.

The actions follows the Goa nightclub fire (Representative photo)

A letter sent by Delhi mayor Raja Iqbal Singh to the MCD education department, and seen by HT, directs education committee chairman Yogesh Verma to “constitute a committee of councillors who may conduct an inspection of the schools to which recognition was granted by the education department to ascertain the fire safety, and a report be submitted to the mayor within a week”.

Speaking to HT, Verma said the 95 MCD-affiliated private schools that were recognised this year will be inspected by the committee. “The committee will consist of two or three members of the education committee, and the deputy or assistant director of education. This move is in response to multiple councillors complaining about gaps in the process through which schools were being recognised. We will first visit and inspect schools that were recognised this year, and then continue to inspect all schools about which complaints were received,” he said, adding that the inspections will assess whether the schools’ construction and operations comply with fire safety norms.