BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) quality control laboratory did not have a fire safety system as per National Building Code (NBC) norms at the time of the blaze 13 days ago, according to sources. Nine staff members working at the laboratory suffered burns in the blaze.
As per NBC norms, all buildings with three or more floors and laboratories, where tests and experiments are done, should have “fire escape staircases”. But the Palike’s laboratory did not have such a staircase, the sources said.
They said over 60% of Palike’s buildings across the city are without such staircases. The laboratory was not fully equipped with fire extinguishers when the fire broke out. Fire extinguishers had to be rushed from elsewhere to douse the blaze.
“The Palike’s building lacks a fully operational fire fighting system. As per my knowledge, even the mandatory ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the fire and emergency services was not obtained for the quality control laboratory,” a senior official from BBMP headquarters said. The sources said the civic body’s engineers are yet to appear before the police officers investigating the case with documents that they had sought.
‘Waiting for details from Palike’
“We had served a notice to BBMP Engineer-In-Chief BS Prahalad. He was supposed to give details regarding the quality control laboratory, the safety norms, staff strength at the laboratory, CCTV footage, etc.
However, the Engineer-In-Chief stated that he could not visit the police station as he is heading a Palike panel which is conducting an inquiry into the blaze. Only after getting all the details from the Palike, we will start our probe,” a senior police officer from the Halasuru Gate police station said.