Gurugram fire dept issues notices to coaching centres

The department has identified five coaching centres so far where entry/exit points and staircases are blocked, electrical wires are loosely hanging in the open, and there is a lack of firefighting equipment.

A day after 21 people died in a massive blaze at a coaching centre in Surat, the Gurugram fire department identified coaching centres at old DLF colony in Sector 14 that are susceptible to fire and is sending notices to building owners to adhere to safety norms or face closure.

Officials said they want to ensure that no coaching centre is being run in violation of fire safety norms.(Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

According to IS Kashyap, assistant divisional fire safety officer, the fire department has identified five coaching centres in the area so far where entry/exit points and staircases are blocked, electrical wires are loosely hanging in the open, and there is a lack of firefighting equipment.

“Most of the coaching centres operating in old DLF colony are not regularised and operate without a valid no-objection certificate (NOC). While none of the centres is located in high-rises, we have observed a few fire safety violations in them. The most glaring among them were blocked entry/exit points and staircases. We have directed the owners of such structures to conform to fire safety norms or face closure,” said Kashyap.

“While there is a high concentration of coaching centres in Sector 14, fire department officials are also scouting other areas in the city where such establishments are functioning without adherence to fire safety norms. We are soon going to issue an advisory through various public forums to coaching centre owners to get a NOC from the fire department, before we initiate action against them,” said Kashyap.

The blaze in Surat broke on the ground floor of the four-storey building and spread to the fourth floor. Many were trapped as the staircase, the only mode of entering and exiting the building, got engulfed in flames.

Fire in shanties

A fire broke out in the shanties in Badshahpur near Vatika Chowk on Saturday morning. No injury was reported in the incident.

According to fire department officials, the fire broke out in a shanty around 10am when overhead high tension wires came in contact with dry grass, which had been kept on the roof of the hut.

Within seconds, the top portion of the hut was engulfed in flames, with the occupants having a narrow escape.