KOCHI: The Fire and Rescue Services Department on Wednesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that it is not in a position to issue a No-Objection Certificate for Cinepolis at Centre Square Mall considering its risk factors in terms of height.
In a statement, Fire and Rescue Services Divisional Officer R Prasad said public safety is a crucial and important subject. The department had filed the statement in response to a petition filed by Peevees Projects, challenging the order of a single judge upholding the stand of the Fire Department that NOC cannot be granted.
The structure comes under the Group D6 assembly building category for which partial final NOC up to the fifth floor had already been granted by the department. This category comprises buildings having assembly and mercantile mixed occupancy.
The National Building Code clearly states assembly buildings above 30 metres in height are not permissible. The sixth, seventh and eighth floors of the building are built under Assembly Category. Fire risk is identified as one of the major risk factors associated with these type of high rises. The fire accident in Upahaar Cinema in New Delhi is a case in point, it said.
When the appeal came up before the Bench, the company contended in the Building Regulation for New Okhla Industrial Development Area (NOIDA) in Uttar Pradesh, there was no height restriction for commercial buildings, including Cineplex. Following this, the department had deputed two officers to visit NOIDA Fire and Rescue Services headquarters for collecting information. It was understood fire clearance was not given to assembly buildings having more than 30 metres height, the department informed.