BENGALURU: With the Fire Department continuing its drive to check violation of norms at rooftop outlets, more restaurants, pubs and bars are expected to be either issued notices or shut in the coming days. Until Wednesday, BBMP had issued closure notices to 57 rooftop outlets, most of which are pubs or bars.
Simultaneously, the Fire and Emergency Services Department had issued notices to 70 outlets. The drive was undertaken after the fire incident in the Kamala Mills Complex of Mumbai’s Parel area, in which 14 people died.
MN Reddi, DG of Fire and Emergency Services, said, “The pubs have been given 15 days’ time to comply with the fire norms, failing which they would be shut. The operation is part of the city’s fire audit.”
BBMP’s Health Inspectors have been given three days to audit all rooftop outlets in their respective zones and issue notices to whichever outlets violate the norms. Mayor Sampath Raj said four outlets had been immediately shut for gross violations - Rasta at Kalyan Nagar, Onesta at Banaswadi, Attica on Vittal Mallya Road and Lady Baga Restaurant on Lavelle Road.
Following gross violations found at Onesta, two BBMP officials, including a Health Inspector, were suspended for lack of proper supervision.
The drive was to start on December 29, but was put off so as to not disrupt citizens’ holiday celebrations. Instead, fire tenders were put on alert near areas which have high concentration of pubs, a BBMP official said.
The violations found at the outlets included lack of fire extinguishers, presence of flammable material such as bamboo mats, exposed metal parts in the lifts and narrow staircases.