HYDERABAD: Since 2010 the Fire Prevention Wing of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has issued no-objection certificate regarding fire safety norms to 1,000 schools though there are 3,500 schools within its limits.Further, between August 2017 and May 2018, the department received just 180 applications for Fire NOC. But only 81 schools, or about 45 pc of the applicants, got the clearance from the corporation. While the GHMC is responsible for issuance of the NOC to schools with buildings that are less than 15 metres in height, it is the Telangana fire services department’s prerogative to check the fire safety standards in school buildings which are taller than 15 metres.
The department, however, could not disclose the number of schools to which it has issued NOC. The fire NOC is one of the clearances schools need for getting Permission to Open (PTO) and subsequent Extension of Temporary Recognition (ETR) from the education department. Private schools, on the other hand, have been seeking exemption from adherence to fire safety norms. Their contention is that a majority of schools in the state had been established well before the National Building Rules came into effect.
“The fire safety rules and police NOC for getting approval became mandatory and came into force in 2005. But 90 per cent schools in the state had been established before that, and these schools can fulfil the norms of neither the National Building Code of India (NBC) nor the fire NOC,” said S Madhusudan Reddy, treasurer of Telangana Recognised Schools Management Association (TRSMA).Though all TRSMA member-schools have installed fire safety equipment, they face trouble when they have to renew the affiliation, an exercise they have to carry out once every 10 years, as officials delay the process for want of numerous NOCs from fire and police departments. To overcome such issues, TRSMA has demanded permanent recognition of schools which are more than 10 years old.
M Bhagwan Reddy, district fire officer, refuted the charge of delay in the issuance of NOC. Calling it speedy and transparent, he said the process from application to final approved and issuance of certificate/letter, which is online, is a 15-day-long process. “There are a few criteria that we look out for during inspection: the school building should not be partly residential or commercial, it should have a six-metre periphery area between the building and the compound wall, and have sufficient means of escape like multiple staircases, each at least 150m wide (10 mm space per child or for every 150 students per floor, two stairways).
Apart from these, if we find any other deficiencies, we ask them to rectify those and then call us for inspection. This takes time. Otherwise, the process is transparent and fast,” he explained.
Showing lenience to schools, the department has sent a proposal to the government saying that shortfalls may be condoned and compensated by increasing the capacity of water tank by 50 per cent and having additional fire safety equipment.
Exemptions
Schools, function halls, cinema halls, multiplexes, malls, religious places which are more than 6 metres and above in height, and stand on a 500 sq.metre plot area require Fire NOC while junior, degree and engineering colleges, universities and professional institutions are all exempted from securing a Fire NOC as per a circular memorandum issued by the director-general of fire services on June 3, 2017.