30-year-old centre violated fire safety norms

Fire brigade officials have blamed lack of ventilation and absence of sprinklers in the basement of the Goyal shopping centre for the uncontrolled spread of fire.

Fire brigade officials have blamed lack of ventilation and absence of sprinklers in the basement of the Goyal shopping centre for the uncontrolled spread of fire.

HT Image

“Fire safety regulations were violated in the basement of the shopping complex. A small space between shops should be kept open for emergency situations, but this was completely neglected,” said a fire brigade official who was at the spot.

There were no sprinklers installed in the basement, which is mandatory, he added. “It takes time for the fire to be detected if the origin is underground and is not visible. If the sprinklers were present, it would have helped control the fire until the fire brigade arrived,” said the officer. The shopping centre is more than 30-years-old.

“It is mandatory to keep 0.75 metres of ventilation space between two shops in a basement. This space was either used for accommodating small shops or there were internal staircases in these spots,” said Uday Tatkare, chief fire officer.

He added that if the ventilation space norm was followed, the smoke would have escaped and maybe fire officer Praveen Jhagde would not have lost his life.

“There are several units across the city which violate the safety rules. We will be taking strict action against them under the new Fire and Safety Act 2009 that gives us additional powers,” added Tatkare.