Panels set up for fire safety audit, norm compliance
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Kolkata: State- and district-level committees had been formed to carry out fire safety audits, ensure regulatory compliance and draft safety guidelines, announced mayor and minister Firhad Hakim on Friday.
The committees were set up by state chief secretary Manoj Pant on Thursday following the recent spate of fires in the city and other parts of the state, resulting in the loss of lives and property. The state-level committee will be headed by Hakim, and will include three other state ministers as well as senior state officials. The district committees will be headed by DMs and SPs. The first meeting of the committee would be held on May 28, said Hakim.
The committee will conduct fire safety audits of buildings, factories, hotels and other relevant premises, evaluate the extent of structural deviations from the sanctioned building plans and suggest remedial measures, in case of deviations. The teams will examine whether commercial establishments had all the valid licences required for statutory compliance with applicable building and fire safety regulations.
They will also assess fire safety infrastructure and the operational efficacy of emergency response systems in commercial and industrial establishments. The panels, which will assess fire safety mechanisms in hotels, restaurants, markets and slums, will check if rooftops were being misused.
The state committee will need to submit its report within a month. Different state agencies and the KMC will work in coordination.
Responding to KMC councillors, Hakim on Friday said they were coordinating with the fire services department. BJP councillor Sajal Ghosh proposed that the KMC trade licence department should not renew licences of commercial establishments if they were found guilty of not complying with safety rules.
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