Following a massive fire at a posh residential apartment in Dhanbad last week which killed 14 people, Ranchi district administration is gearing up to conduct a fire audit of all the buildings in the district on priority basis soon.
The Jharkhand high court too had taken suo motu cognizance of the Dhanbad fire incident by initiating a PIL and directed the state government to plug loopholes to ensure proper compliance of fire safety. The court will take up the next hearing of the PIL later this month.
In the wake of the growing concerns of poor enforcement of fire safety rules, Ranchi deputy commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha has directed Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), Ranchi Regional Development Authority (RRDA) and other stakeholders to crack down on erring buildings, both commercial and residential apartments for failing to comply with fire safety norms.
He has also directed officials to form a task force comprising representatives of civic, fire department and district administration to begin fire safety audits at the earliest. “The task force must keep inspecting the buildings and slap criminal cases against the builders in case of violations,” he directed while holding a review meeting last evening.
All senior officials of the district both from police and civil administration were present in the meeting.
Sinha said, “All building must take fire safety clearance certificates as per the prescribed law. I have directed officials to review the buildings with or without fire NOCs to enforce compliance and take action, if required accordingly. We shall also initiate criminal proceedings against the builder or concerned persons in case of violations in coming time.”
Sinha directed RMC and RRDA to categorise buildings in rural and urban areas based on the fire safety and other mechanisms to ensure compliance. “A task force to ensure fire safety compliance will be in place for the job,” he said, adding that officials have been directed to prepare micro-level plans to avert fire mishaps. Fire department has been asked to initiate surveys on its own from time to time.