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Admn mute over violation of fire safety regulations
SAFETY NORMS for erecting enclosures and marriage pandals are being flouted blatantly by the people here. It seems that district administration has not yet taken any lesson from the tragedy at Victoria ground in Meerut.
SAFETY NORMS for erecting enclosures and marriage pandals are being flouted blatantly by the people here. It seems that district administration has not yet taken any lesson from the tragedy at Victoria ground in Meerut.
The safety norms are violated as the enclosures are made of bamboos and they are erected near railway tracks and electricity transformers, which is prohibited under the fire safety norms.
The district administration has failed to ensure compliance of fire safety norms for the enclosure owners and public gatherings for marriage parties are taking place everyday in every part of the city. Not a single marriage hall has an enclosure which fulfills the norms prescribed by the State government for establishing the enclosures.
However, the administration has turned a blind eye to such malpractices.
The enclosures and temporary marriage halls erected with prohibited articles like bamboos and polyester cloth are can be seen in every market and even the densely populated areas of the city. Polythene is used to cover up these enclosures, which again is strictly prohibited.
There is no proper arrangement for lighting and no fire extinguishing arrangement are made. These pandals house temporary marriage halls. Moreover, the owners do not procure a no-objection certificate from the fire brigade department.
It is worthy to note that the government has directed to ensure the implementation of certain rules for erecting the enclosures but the administration has failed to ensure the implementation of the norms.
According to norms, proper arrangement for extinguishing a fire should be made in the enclosures but one cannot find any such thing in any marriage hall.
According to norms, the use of anti-fire articles is mandatory for erecting enclosures, height of which should be three metres.
There should be a corridor and passage and electric decoration should not be used in these temporary enclosures.
Contrary to these norms, various marriage halls and enclosure are erected here near the railway track high-tension electricity wire and transformers.
The owners of the enclosure are booking marriage parties beyond seating capacity. Even their kitchen is set up in these temporary pandals. They use silk and polyester cloth for decoration of the pandals.
A fire brigade officer said that permission from the fire department for erecting enclosures was mandatory but so far the administration had not taken any step to tighten the screw for strict implementation of fire safety norms, though fire outbreaks have increased in the district.
