CHENNAI: The Special Task Force, constituted more than three years ago to crackdown on illegal buildings across the city, will use drones to review 149 buildings which are under scanner for violation of fire safety norms.
A consultant will be hired by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) member secretary, after which inspection will be carried out, said a CMDA official. This comes after a separate study on fire safety measures with an alternate mechanism in congested areas like George Town, Purasawalkam, Tripplicane and T Nagar.
"Once the order is passed this week, we are likely to take it up the coming week. We wanted to have scientific data on these buildings. Doing it manually will take time," said the official. Fire consultant V Sivaramakrishnan said that drones cannot find out whether the sprinklers are working or are they connected to the water pump. This has to be done manually.
According to a survey of 150 T Nagar multi-storeyed buildings carried out by the State Fire and Rescue Services Department, it was found that in most buildings, water storage and provision of fire pump facilities and hydrant systems are not as per requirements of National Building Code. Most buildings also don’t have automatic sprinkler system. The CMDA member secretary could not be reached for comments.