BARIPADA: Following revelations that many public public buildings do not have minimum fire safety equipment, the fire service unit of Baripada has written to the district administration to ask commercial establishments and owners of residential buildings to obtain No Objection Certificate on fire safety and adhere to prescribed norms.
An ongoing inspection drive indicated that many public public buildings do not have minimum fire safety equipment putting them at a high risk. The letter has specified that large buildings (both government and private), malls, educational institutions, storage units, etc must possess an NOC as per Odisha Fire Prevention and Fire Safety Recommendation Act, 2017. The administration should ask all concerned to make their units fire-safe and apply for the NOC online, the letter stated.
Assistant Fire Officer (AFO) of Baripada unit Bhabendranath Dey said the department has provided at least 100 fire safety certificates to both government and non-government institutions in the last five years.
"We are inspecting all major buildings across the district and mock drills are being conducted in presence of stakeholders. More than 200 awareness drives have been conducted at various locations since last year. Cooperation between the fire safety units and the district administration will go a long way in ensuring safety of establishments," he said.
In Mayurbanj, each of the 26 blocks has a fire service unit. But most of the commercial establishments are centered in Baripada, Rairangpur Municipalities and Udala and Karanjia NACs while buildings in rural areas often are found operating without basic safety precautions.
The fire safety personnel, sources said, are having problems ascertaining whether some of the institutions come under residential or commercial category after some rules were changed by the district planning office.