Despite having no safety norms, over 850 buildings get fire NOC
7 Jan, 2014
An application was filed with the fire and emergency services department of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking to get the details of fire safety certificates issued to high rise buildings in the city between 2005 and 2011.
The reply to the application, provided by the Chief fire officer, states that the department issued fire no objection certificates to 921 high rise buildings during the period. However, the reply shows that only 67 buildings submitted the compliance report to the department. Hence, the department conducted inspections of only 67 buildings and issued them the final compliance certificates. The compliance report for the rest 854 buildings was never filed. More so, the department neither conducted any inspection of such buildings nor took any other action regarding the compliance report. The reply also stated that 120 days are needed for conducting inspection but not even a single notice was issued to the builders.
The applicant blamed the town planning department for such violation stating that building plans are sanctioned without seeking NOC from fire department and occupancy certificates are issued without asking the builders to submit the fire compliance certificates. The applicant has also filed a complaint with the deputy municipal commissioner demanding action against the erring officials.