Govt Wakes Up To Save Delhi From Big Fires

To avert recurring disasters, top govt, police & civic officials finally come together for complete overhaul of safety norms

- Kumar Kunal

Sunday's factory fire in North Delhi’s Anaj Mandi area that killed 43 people and left many wounded has woken up authorities from their deep slumber, it seems.

To save Delhi from recurring disasters, top government, police and civic officials have finally come together for a complete overhaul of fire-safety guidelines.

The AAP government has kept in focus key sectors such as coaching centres, hospitals & nursing homes and restaurants & guesthouses. Three committees formed by it after the latest tragedy have hurriedly convened their meetings.

The one to look at the issue of coaching centres has been formed under the Director (Education). Its members include the Additional Commissioner (North Delhi Municipal Corporation), retired Fire Department Director AK Sharma, a professor of structural engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi and representatives from coaching centres.

Whether it is Mukherjee Nagar in North Delhi, Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi, Ber Sarai in South Delhi, or Karol Bagh in Central Delhi, a blatant disregard of fire safety norms and building codes is what unites most of the 3,000 recognised coaching centres that have mushroomed across the National Capital. Add to these the thousands of centres that are unaccounted for, but guilty of the same.

A visit to these areas reveals that these buildings will be sitting ducks in case of a fire. Like the coaching centre in Surat where 22 children were charred in May, these tuition 'shops' are houses of wax too.