The RBI way of firefighting

Often, it's a long investigation process, but the regulator doesn't discuss this openly since that can threaten financial sector stability. There are no teasers

- TAMAL BANDYOPADHYAY

Ahead of Holi, the festival of colours, I visited a banker friend for lunch over the weekend. He lives in a modern housing society in Mumbai. A majority of its residents are finance professionals - commercial and investment bankers, treasury managers, senior executives of insurance firms and mutual funds.

Quite a few of them were invited to the lunch hosted at his sprawling apartment, flaunting a lovely balcony overlooking the sea.

I hadn't even tasted the delicious-looking achari paneer tikka and sweet potato pineapple dahi puri chaat (it was a vegetarian meal) when an ear piercing alarm sounded.

Oh God! Just a few weeks ago, a massive fire had broken out in a building near Grant Road Station, a bustling neighbourhood in south Mumbai. Half a dozen fire engines had rushed to the spot. Before that, in the last week of January, a massive blaze had erupted in a seven-story timber market in the same area, causing death and destruction. It had taken the fire brigade 18 hours to douse it.

I was about to rush out when the community of bankers asked me to relax. It was a routine fire drill conducted by the society at regular intervals around the year.

The housing society plans this drill meticulously, with multiple steps: The residents are alerted; the evacuation procedures are laid down; and there are designated safe assembly points. Such alarms are used to conduct a trial evacuation over lazy weekends every once in a while. The emergency exits are checked to ensure they're not obstructed.

To prevent these drills from becoming too "routine" an affair, they also switch the evacuation scenario. At times, someone stands at a particular exit with a sign reading "Exit Blocked" to simulate a potential situation and force the residents to react.