Only around 10 per cent of the high-rise buildings (buildings with five or more floors) in the city have complied with fire-safety norms, said Chief Fire Officer H.S. Varadarajan.
Talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of Home Guards Day celebration on Tuesday, Mr. Varadarajan said in the last two years the Fire and Emergency Services officers had inspected nearly 600 high-rise buildings and issued notices about the required fire-safety measures. Only around 60 buildings had so far complied with the requirements.
The High Court of Karnataka had directed the State government to carry out fire audits of all high-rise buildings following the tragedy in Carlton Towers in Bengaluru in February 2010.
The government had asked the Fire and Emergency Services Department to inspect buildings in 2011 and submit a fire audit report by April 2012. This deadline was later extended to December 2013.
No oppositionMr. Varadarajan said there had been no opposition to the recommendations made by the department personnel. “But they have their own problems including arranging funds to meet the requirement,” he said.
All the private hospitals have started work to have facilities for tackling fire emergencies.
Mr. Varadarajan said a private hospital near Ambedkar Circle discussed with his officers about the ways to protect scanning machines installed in the building. It was constructing a new block that was fire-safety compliant.
Earlier, Mr. Varadarajan called upon Home Guards to take up clerical and other posts in the Fire and Emergency Services that are vacant. He said they could take up work of receiving calls at the control room.
Mr. Varadarajan felicitated Home Guard H. Narayan, who has secured Chief Minister’s medal for saving the life of a person during flood and retired Home Guard Vijaykumar.
The programme was organised by the District Home Guards on the occasion of All-India Home Guards Day on Tuesday.
