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Your Space: Fire safety audit at tuition classes a must
At least 23 students died when a commercial complex in Surat caught fire on May 24. Coaching classes in Pune have been found neglecting safety measures, including fire audits, risking lives of students. Now that the state is auditing safety at all institutes, here is what our readers have to say...
At least 23 students died when a commercial complex in Surat caught fire on May 24. Coaching classes in Pune have been found neglecting safety measures, including fire audits, risking lives of students. Now that the state is auditing safety at all institutes, do you believe this is a needed pre-requisite for a private tuition class?
Govt should take action against violators
The lax civic authorities are “playing with the lives of citizens” by not enforcing fire safety measures in crowded places where the tuition classes are located. Similarly, unauthorised constructions, which have been illegally backed by the corrupt government officials, are the ones where such fire incidents occur. The role of the government and the corrupt administration is to be chiefly blamed for endangering the lives of the residents and young students. Parents need to knock the door of the courts and judiciary must come on its own to take the corrupt administration to task on the issue. Why is every government institution waiting for somebody to file a complaint when it should have been taking action on its own?
Sulokshana Pandit
Safety audits must for all coaching centres
Fire safety audits must be conducted at every coaching centre as too many students are seated in a small room. The rooms are so tiny that students have no where to run if an emergency occurs. Nowadays, many of the coaching centres are air-conditioned, so the windows are closed. It is the responsibility of the owner of coaching centre to provide total security to students, which is most of the time overlooked as we Indians are not very particular about safety as a whole. Parents also need to be very alert while admitting their wards to any coaching centre and should check if the place has a fire safety plan in place and is able to tackle any emergency. Many such classes are located in the basements or mezzanine floors which makes them very stuffy and unmanageable even in normal circumstances, so what will be their fate in emergencies? In general, we need to be safety conscious and should know how to cope with fire or any other disaster. Besides, every classes must have a prescribed number of students in one room, with sufficient ventilation and way to go out in emergencies.
Maya Hemant Bhatkar
Demarcation of refugee areas must to prevent fire incidents
The tragedy of the Gujarat tuition class shows flagrant violation of fire safety when it comes to commercial buildings generally and more so with high-rise buildings in metropolitan cities where all the violations are taking place with impunity. The fire related law provides for the creation of refugee areas i.e. areas where people can take shelter in the event a fire or like contingency occurs in a building. Such areas are permitted to be developed without it being calculated to determine the permissible Floor-Space Index (FSI). However, no such area is provided for when the building is finally developed. Rather, areas demarcated as refugee areas are used as a means for erecting irregular structures over more area. Many builders and developers are misusing this provision of FSI-free demarcation of refugee areas to gain undue commercial gains by seeking permission to build huge areas as refuge areas far in excess of norms completely free of FSI and then merging them with the apartments to be used as habitable areas in the form of decks and terraces.This malpractice is prevalent in major cities across the country where maximum high-rise buildings have come up during the past one decade or more. There is a need for strong judicial and legal activism on this front, so that Surat-like tragedies don’t take place in the future. On the contrary, a first information report must be registered the moment these violations take place and complaints are received. Laxity is proving to be a major bane of the government which is found to be very slow in providing justice and compensation to the victims. Action speaks louder than words.
Kumail Khan
Schools should also have fire audits
Not only coaching classes, but also schools should have fire safety audits. Many private schools are mushrooming in Pune, but the municipal administration does not know if they have a fire safety plan in place. The school campus and bus should have fire safety equipment and the administration should give training to the school staff in case of fire emergency. An audit should be conducted regularly by the authority concerned.
Ajay Pardeshi
Licence is a must
At least 23 students died when a commercial complex in Surat caught fire on May 24.Coaching classes in Pune are running in peths area and residential apartments illegally. Firstly, without licence, they should not be allowed to operate. Strict action must be taken if coaching centres are run without licence and if safety norms are ignored.
Anoop Panjwani
Need to focus on fire prevention
My heartfelt condolences to the families of students who succumbed to the engineering failures in designing of the public use of buildings. We need to educate our society otherwise all discussions will remain for documentary purposes only. The common man is not so aware or serious about fire safety. Instead of blaming fire fighters of the government department, we should focus on fire prevention. All precautionary measures should be taken at the time of construction of the building. Regular audits will help keep the fire protection system updated.
Girish Kulkarni
Mock drills should be conducted
Most of the coaching classes are located in commercial complexes where fire safety is unfortunately compromised. Government should not only make fire safety audits mandatory, but also make it compulsory for commercial buildings to have a clear escape plan with multiple access routes. They should also regularly conduct mock drills from time to time to spread awareness. If norms are not followed, then, strict rules should be imposed, including shutting down of such buildings.
Santosh K
Include fire safety in school syllabus
Fire safety is of crucial importance and it is missing from the syllabus of the students. Parents, teachers and the government must come together to formulate a syllabus related to fire safety which will help make the lives of the students safer in the days to come.
Santosh Shinde
Students should be aware of their surroundings
The Gujarat incident is an eye-opener for students and they themselves must be alert regarding their surroundings where the classes are being held. It is the duty of the students to become fire-safety literate to keep themselves safe from such incidents. Parents also must educate their wards about the issue so that wider public awareness can be built around it to bring about a change in the society.
Ajay Gaikwad
Need to have basic fire safety knowledge
Residents must have some basic knowledge about their rights and responsibilities towards meeting fire eventualities. General fire awareness is also required in our day-to-day lives which will bring about safety and security of our homes, neighbourhoods and commercial spaces.
Jeevan Ghodake
Vision needed for fire safety
Corruption is the root cause of the falling standards of fire safety measures across the country. With criminals and bogus persons getting elected to various posts of the municipal councils, we do not have a vision for fire planning. The fire department is given less priority while TDR and other construction-related bonanza is discussed with great fanfare in the municipal corporation general body. We have become illiterate despite being educated as money is the only thing which matters to people and the elected representatives. In this way, young children are losing their lives for the fault of the city fathers. It is a very alarming situation and corruption must be brought down, failing which, it will lead to complete chaos and destruction of our future generation just like what happened with the students who were present in that coaching class in Gujarat.
Christine Pereira
Regulations must be adopted immediately to prevent recurrence
A fire safety audit is the most effective tool for assessing fire safety standards for any building. It helps people identify the areas for improvement and evolve an action plan for mitigating the crisis. The National Building Code of India lays down a set of minimum provisions according to which buildings should be designed to protect safety of the public and prevent loss of life .The fire regulations can be adopted immediately or enacted for use by various departments, municipal administrations and public bodies so that we can prevent a recurrence of what happened in Gujarat. People must be alert and should not be careless about this important issue. At the same time, action must be taken and if need be a first information report must be lodged against those found violating the fire safety law.
Ankush Sankhe, fire security expert
