The recent fire accidents in industries and warehouses across the State has once again brought to the fore the lack of fire-fighting equipment and safety measures in place.
While a majority of the major industries such as pharmacy, petrochemical and others have certain passive firefighting systems in place, small industries and manufacturing units in industrials areas running in buildings that do not fall under purview of fire services department owing to gaps in fire safety rules, are prone to accidents and damages.
When a major fire broke out in a plastic manufacturing unit near the city, the fire department had deployed all its fire fighting machinery to control the blaze. But the department has no authority to make such units get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the fire officials concerned.
Following the incident, the Fire Services Department recently wrote to the Department of Industries asking the officials to issue or renew licences of the units only after fire NOCs are submitted, said a senior official.
If NOC for the issuance of the licence is made mandatory, we can ensure that fire safety system is in place at all the industrial units, the official said. “Initially, any unit should get the provisional NOC from the department before the works of construction of the unit begins. After going through the final set up of the unit, final NOC will be issued,” the official said.
On the other hand, the online portal for applying for NOC as part of the ease of doing business initiative has made the service transparent and quicker in delivery for the officials as well as applicants.
The portal was launched about eight months ago in the State, and so far hundreds of applications have been received from residential apartments, educational institutions, hospitals, industries, shopping malls, storages and others for renewal of NOCs, occupational NOCs and provisional NOCs. A majority of them have been approved.
“Also as banks, MNC investors and others are now insisting on fire NOC and firefighting system before investing in any industry, owners are coming forward to get the permissions required,” said Regional Fire Officer (Eastern Region) G. Sreenivasulu.
Sabotage
While most of the fire mishaps in industries and commercial establishments are accidental, the occurrence of fire due to sabotage may not be ruled out by the officials.
Though cases of sabotage to claim insurances exist, ascertaining the cause of fire and intent behind it is almost impossible.
Info graphic:
Calls received by the Fire and emergency department in March and April: 1978
Huge: 13
Medium: 93
Small: 1872
Rescue and emergency: 55
Lives lost in fire and other mishaps so far this fiscal: 34
Lives saved: 25
Major causes
Careless smoking 1197
Electric short-circuit 485
Place of mishaps:
Households 389
Godowns 63
Industries 31
Offices/shops 58
Total damage to property Rs. 47.03 crore
Calls received in the past four years:
2014-15: 16,373 (fire), 459 (rescue)
2015-16: 13, 891 fire, 776 rescue
2016-17: 14,990 fire, 681 rescue
2017-18: 13, 097 fire, 711 rescue
Lives saved in fire and rescue operations in four years: 3,796.
Source: CM’s core dashboard.
(EOM)
