Palam fire: MCD, DFS play the blame game over fire NoC

A fire in a Delhi building killed nine, revealing enforcement lapses by government agencies amid a blame game between fire and municipal officials.

New Delhi

Firefighters attempt to douse a massive fire that gutted a building in Sadh Nagar near Palam in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Vipin Kumar /HT PHOTO)

The fire tragedy at a five-storey building in southwest Delhi’s Sadh Nagar on Wednesday, which claimed nine lives, has once again highlighted the lapses in the enforcement of existing norms by various government agencies. The incident has led to a blame game between the officials of the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).

A senior DFS officer said that the building where the fire broke out did not require a no-objection certificate from their department, as it was a residential building with a height of less than 15 metres per floor. “The building is residential and each floor is less than 15 metres in height, which means they do not need a fire NOC,” the officer said.

The officer blamed the MCD for “allowing” the use of the building for commercial purposes in the basement, ground and first floors. “It may be noted that even in business occupancy areas, as this one may be, it (NoC) is not required as it was less than 15 metres according to Rule Number 27 of the Delhi Fire Services Rules,” the officer said.

A senior MCD official, on condition of anonymity, said that the municipal probe has found that the commercial operations being undertaken in the building were licensed, but the violations in the building construction were still under the scanner. “The street in which the building is located is notified for mixed land use and the shop had licence. However, the building is being inspected...Issues like lack of double staircase and common entry exit, lack of ventilation due to facade being completely covered and illegal operations in basements are still being checked,” the official said.

A second official, from the MCD’s building department, blamed the DFS. “Before construction of any commercial-cum-residential building of this scale, an in-principle approval is first granted by the DFS. These conditions need to be complied with and the NoC is issued after the construction, with due inspections.”

Anil Yadav, the spokesperson of the MCD, did not comment on the status of the building or any lapse found in the inspection. MCD commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar also did not respond to repeated requests for comment.