HYDERABAD: Fire department officials in Hyderabad observe that a lot of buildings in the city do not comply with fire safety norms. The fire accident in Mumbai, which claimed four lives on Wednesday, has forced officials and denizens to rethink their safety and well-being. “From residential buildings to commercial complexes, a lot of buildings will be exposed to serious damage in the eventuality of a fire break out,” and officially said.
Take for instance the massive fire that broke out at a paint shop in Ranigunj a couple of months ago. Fire tenders could not bring down the flames even two days after the fire broke out. The main reason behind this was the teams had very little access to move around the building. The operations were severely compromised due to the fact that the building was nestled in a corner on an alley. “The main issue, when it comes to the dousing of flames, is the lack of enough place around the building to move around freely,” a senior officer observed.
A look inside the lanes of popular shopping centres like Gujarati Galli in Koti, General Bazar & Ranigunj in Secunderabad is enough to see how cramped the by-lanes can be at some places. The situation isn’t any different at places like Ameerpet and Ranigunj where scores of educational institutions have proliferated extremely close to each other.
Further, the official said that cellars were meant to be empty without any construction like kindergarten areas or watchmen quarters. “But a lot of buildings have such rooms which are simply not meant to exist from the standpoint of fire safety,” the official said. “A lot of people in rural areas have constructed buildings with more floors that they have obtained permission for. The owners don’t really know how much of a fire hazard this can be,” said V Papaiah, Regional Fire Officer