The five-storey building that is 15-metres tall is considered to be a high-rise by definition, but the ‘Brand Factory’ had not been fire audited and hence had no requisite clearance from the Fire and Emergency Services.
M.N. Reddi, DGP, Fire and Emergency Services, said that the building had not implemented any of the fire safety measures mandatory in a high-rises. “If the fire accident had occurred during the day when workers and customers are in the store, it could have been fatal,” he said. Based on a complaint filed by the Fire and Emergency Services, the police registered a case and are investigating.
A senior fire fighter, who was involved in the operation, said that the building had also clearly violated the National Building Code and had not left adequate set back area, which posed a serious challenge for them to take their fire tenders into the area. “Builders do not realise the importance of set back area. But in times like these, its a severe handicap for us,” he said.
Officials are also probing whether the building had sufficient legal documents from the BBMP as well. Sources said that the building is jointly owned by Shivakumar, Hemareddy and Ravi Kumar, who had rented it out to one Kishan Lal from Mumbai for the past eight years to run the apparel store.
