VADODARA: The Banyan City has witnessed major fires in 2017 like at the collector office and at Schaefflar India at Maneja, and it may not be a surprise if an incident like the one at Kamala Mills Compound in Mumbai is repeated here. Vadodara Fire and Emergency Services (VFES) this year has served notices to 243 premises owner for violation of fire safety norms.
According to sources in VFES, 80% of the 243 premises that were served notices were commercial properties where daily footfall was in thousands.
"These notices are served and a fine is slapped when the premises owner apply for renewal of the NOC (no objection certificate). While a few buildings do follow the norms like having fire extinguishers and the smoke detection and extinguishing systems, but many of them have outdated or non-functional systems," said a fire official.
Interestingly, the fire compliance ratio in the city was quite low. "Only 15% premises owner who have been served notice make changes in the fire safety systems," the official said.
Another senior fire official said that when the norms are not complied even after the notice they serve another notice to disconnect electricity and water connections of the building.
But such extreme steps have hardly been taken. "Legally, the water and electricity are essential services and these can be disconnected when the fine due is 30% of the building's value and the fine we slap is not that high compared to high value of the commercial buildings. So we do not snap water and electricity connections," the fire official said.
A station officer who has participated in many rescue operations told TOI: "There have been instances when the building owners make civil changes in the building to suit their commercial purposes, but they do not realize that such action of theirs will cost them heavily when a major mishap takes place."
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