There is a growing concern about whether high-rise residential buildings in Nagpur are complying with Indian safety standards.
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Nagpur News:
At a height of negligence, most of the high rise residential buildings in Nagpur not following the fire safety standards. The 854-odd high rise structures in Nagpur have criminally neglected the firefighting strategies and have no arrangements at all if the fire incident were to take place.
The Fire Brigade authorities issued several notices to the owners, managements or builders of these 854 high rise buildings but every notice found its place in the garbage bins. The Fire Brigade, too, can’t escape the blame as not a single visible action was taken by the firefighting department against the tall buildings. In fact, the Fire Brigade would be slapped with the blame for any devastating fire because of its dutiful negligence. The 854 high rise buildings have been located in the city and Metro Region.
The information was dug out from the NMC’s Fire Brigade Department by a pointing RTI query. According to the information provided by the NMC, the total number of tall buildings stood at 921 since the period from 2005 to 2011 and the buildings were issued temporary No Objection Certificates and Fitness Certificates. However, at the same time, the NMC had directed the owners, managements or builders to immediately take vital safety measures in all fronts. But only 67 high rise building owners, managements and builders implemented the NMC directives in letter and spirit till November 2, 2011. The NMC Fire Brigade then issued permanent No Objection Certificates and Fitness Certificates to these 67 high rise buildings. The remaining 854 buildings conveniently turned a blind eye and are in standing position to “greet” a fire.
However, the shocking fact in all this fracas is that despite issuance of power and water cut notices by the concerned authorities, the die-hard owners, managements or builders of the 854 high rise buildings have not moved an inch to prepare themselves in battle-ready state to handle any fire incident that may be lurking. The areas like Ramdaspeth, Dhantoli, Laxmi Nagar, and the Metro Region have been dotted with many tall buildings that may someday invite the Fire God and trigger devastation.
The ominous political pressures stalled the Fire Brigade actions against the gigantic buildings umpteen times. The short of fiery hands in the Fire Brigade Department is a major hurdle in inspecting the the tall structures. Moreover, out of 15 officials, 14 officials are busy in “meaningless” working if the rightful duty of firefighting is taken into consideration.
