from www.asianage.com
70 Uphaars in the making: Fire safety rules ignored - By Bindu Jacob - New Delhi, June 10
Three years after the Uphaar cinema blaze, Delhi continues to be blase about the 70 odd major structures, officially identified as being bereft of minimum fire safety measures. These buildings, which include 70 Central government offices, local bodies' establishments and private buildings and a prime shopping complex in the posh Greater Kailash have so far failed to comply with the safety norms stipulated by the Delhi Fire Service.
The Uphaar tragedy on June 13, 1997, had resulted in the loss of 59 lives and left 104 injured. The tragedy was a result of the non-existing fire safety requirements and absence of adequate escape routes. But official (and commercial ) Delhi refuses to learn any lessons.The list of buildings flouting fire safety norms include the busy Mohan Singh Palace and Super Bazar complexes in the Connaught Place area and Akbar Bhawan in the diplomatic enclave, which houses a number of government offices. With a constant rush of people, even the most minor of fires can cause a catastrophe in these places, Fire Service officials say.The list also includes many buildings under "autonomous" ownership � the Foreign Post Office (Kotla Road), Vallabh Bhai Patel Chest Institute, Jeevan Vihar, USSR Building, Golden Jubilee Hall (Pusa), Mankalya Bhawan and Manak Bhawan (Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg).
The estate owners have refused to react even after repeated notices being issued by the Delhi Fire Service, fire officials claim.The private buildings mentioned in a government note are Azad Apartments near the IIT, Siddhartha House, the DLF shopping complex, Ashoka Bhawan, Bajaj House, Meghdoot Building, Asha Deep, Surya Kiran Building, New Delhi House and CCI house. Nehru Place and Rajendra Place are the "hot spots" in Delhi which house the maximum number of these buildings declared unsafe by the Delhi Fire Service. All these potential "fiery-buildings" have failed to abide by the fire safety norms despite repeated inspections and notices being sent to set right the existing conditions and for their own safety, a fire service official said.
This list includes only the buildings that come under the category of highrise buildings. There are many others in the city, which, though not included here, run an equal or more risk of turning into a suicide trip for unsuspecting visitors and those who work there. Among the fire safety basics for highrise buildings are water storage capacity of 50,000 to 200,000 litres, automatic sprinkler, hose reel facility, portable fire extinguishing appliances, and space to facilitate enough room to escape. The rules also require all buildings to have an automatic fire detection system or a manual alarm and a public address system � a requirement mostly disregarded. Other requirements include exit signs, emergency power supply, providing of fireman switch in one of the lift and wet riser/ down comer/ dry risers. "If things do not improve," he said, "just about any of these buildings bring another Uphaar-like tragedy, or maybe worse," a fire service official said.