Fire safety corridor for market’s 1st floor shops

Eateries, restaurants and shops in Khan Market are all set to shrink with the NDMC planning to construct a fire safety corridor. This one-metre-wide corridor will be constructed for first floor shops in the middle lane. Space for the corridor will be made by shrinking the shops. Neelam Pandey and Hamari Jamatia report.

Eateries, restaurants and shops in Khan Market are all set to shrink with the NDMC planning to construct a fire safety corridor. This one-metre-wide corridor will be constructed for first floor shops in the middle lane. Space for the corridor will be made by shrinking the shops.

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“The corridor will be 3-4m above the ground so that it serves like an extended balcony for the shops. It will also serve as a fire exit for the first-floor shops,” said Santosh Vaidya, secretary, NDMC.

Earlier the Supreme Court appointed Monitoring Committee had asked the shopkeepers to have a fire exit plan in case of an emergency. “We will first discuss the plan with NDMC and see how feasible it is for us,” said Sanjiv Mehra, president of the Khan Market Association.

Earlier, there were plans to construct collapsible ladders to be used as exit gates. This plan, however, never took off.

“The new plan will ensure that all the fire safety norms are met. The Delhi Fire Service has also approved the new proposal. We will discuss it with all stakeholders,” said a senior NDMC official.

According to sources, space inside the shops will shrink as the civic agency will have to demolish portions of the shops to make way for the fire escape corridor.