State relaxes fire
safety norms
DG pump set, common water tank to be part of new norms
The
state government decided to relax fire safety regulations in a significant
decision on the basis of report submitted by experts’ committee on Friday.
The recommendations, which
have been approved, include three important changes - allowing complexes
with two to three high rise buildings to have a common underground water
tank, permitting DG pump sets instead of the mandatory 65 bhp
and making the decision of the fire safety officer binding in cases
where there is no space for construction of the underground water tank.
Minister of state for urban
development Parmanand Khattar said on Monday that the state government
had constituted an experts committee comprising fire safety director
from the Centre, the GSFC fire safety officer and the fire safety officer
of the Brihan-mumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai, to recommend amendments
in the fire safety regulations. The committee has submitted its reports
and the three recommendations are amongst the many that have been approved
by the state government.
Mr. Khattar justified the
decision to permit high powered DG sets instead of the 65 bhp
water pump since the electricity charges for the pump itself came to
Rs 20,000 despite not being in use. "These kind of charges are needless
and unreasonable," Mr. Khattar said. The state government also agreed
on a common underwater tank of a one-lakh litres capacity between two
to three towers in a complex.
Mr. Khattar said the decision
of the fire safety officer in case of towers that do not have sufficient
space for the construction of the underground water tank will be final
and binding.
It may be recalled that
power supply to 42 high rise buildings had been severed by the AEC for
disregarding the fire safety regulations on the orders of the High Court.
The blackout had brought
thousands of people on the street, who had blamed builders hand-in-glove
with AUDA officials for the neglect of the fire safety regulations.
Ahmedabad Police Commissioner P.C. Pande had requested the Torrent director
to reconnect power supply in view of deteriorating law and order situation.
