BHUBANESWAR: After several shops in BMC-Keshari mall were damaged by fire this week, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is mulling group insurance for traders in city markets to protect them from sustaining loss from fire incidents.Mayor Sulochana Das has asked officials to sensitise vendors about provision of group insurance and encourage them to avail it in order to prevent loss due to any mishap.
“The traders whose shops were damaged due to fire in the mall didn’t have insurance to cover their losses,” Das said and added that to prevent them from bearing such losses in future vendors will be encouraged to go for group insurance where they will be required to pay a small amount of premium once every year to bring their business to the fold of insurance coverage.
The BMC currently has seven markets, three market complexes and around 32 vending zones under its jurisdiction. The mayor has asked officials to focus on group insurance for these traders.Meanwhile, she said that officials have also been asked to focus on fire safety measures in market places and work in coordination with fire services officials to prevent fire mishaps.
“The fire at the mall was doused off immediately as it had a proper fire-alarm system. Besides, the fire tenders also reached the spot on time,” the city mayor said and added that officials have been asked to focus on similar measures in other market places.
With electricity consumption high during the summer months of the year, the stress on the transmission lines remain high during summer. Accordingly, the fire services wing has intensified its awareness drive in malls, market areas and large commercial establishments for adequate safety measures to prevent fire mishaps, said city assistant fire officer Susant Kumar Biswal.
Biswal said mock fire drills are being conducted in the city to ensure adequate fire safety measures are in place in big commercial establishments. One such mock drill has been planned at the Esplanade mall on April 19. Besides, Biswal said the fire tenders have been deployed strategically in every three km radius of the city to ensure they reach the spot in less than five minutes, where fire outbreak is reported.