76% Buildings in the city flout fire safety norms
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- Current News
- Friday, 27 April 2012 11:45
- Published on Friday, 27 April 2012 14:45
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Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad
In a shocking revelation, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has informed the Gujarat high court that 76% of high rise buildings in Ahmedabad do not have the mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) for fire safety. The shocking fact was admitted by the AMC in an affidavit filed before the court. The court has now asked the AMC for details of fire safety systems in educational institutes in the city.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice JB Pardiwala was hearing the response of the AMC to a PIL filed by Prakash Nambiar in 2009. AMC said that out of 1,227 commercial and residential buildings in city, 1,202 buildings have got fire safety measures installed, but their NOCs have not been renewed.
The AMC further said that 25 out of 1,227 buildings don’t even have the fire safety system installed at their premises. The affidavit filed by deputy municipal commissioner states that out of 1202, only 292 buildings have No Objection Certificate (NOC), whereas 935 buildings don’t have it. The affidavit further states that renewal of fire safety and upgrade is a continuous process and due to lack of time AMC couldn’t do it.
“The AMC affidavit accepts that 75% of the high rise buildings in the city have no fire safety systems. The fire safety system without NOC from fire department and AMC is equivalent to non-existence and non-functional fire safety systems,” said Amit Panchal, counsel for the petitioner Prakash Nambiar.
“The civic body has to inspect the system annually and issue NOC to concerned buildings,” he added. Panchal further said that the petitioner has also demanded ensuring installation of fire prevention and safety systems at the educational institutes across the city as per order of the Supreme Court. “Therefore, the court has directed the authority to inspect them and report on June 21,” Panchal said.
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