Lift act yet to be a reality in U.P.
Residents express concern over poor condition and upkeep of elevators in highrise buildings; official says draft lift and escalator law submitted to govt
LUCKNOW Soon after the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple were stuck in a lift in the Vidhan Sabha complex on December 18, 2015, a demand was made to enact a lift law in the state.
Alok Kumar, founder and president of the Federation of Association of Apartment Owners and member of RERA Conciliation Forum, had first demanded a lift legislation for UP in 2015. Regularly flagging the issue since then, he said the governments haven’t shown much interest over people’s concerns over lift upkeep.
A year after Kumar made the demand, a four-year-old boy died after being trapped in the channel gate of a lift in a posh apartment at Lucknow’s Jopling road.
Two months later, a 45-yearold mandi parishad employee died after falling into a lift duct in Gomti Nagar’s Vibhuti Khand on August 17, 2016.
Such incidents have continued unabated across the state despite successive governments not showing interest in enacting a law to ensure maintenance of lifts and safety of people.
“In 2015, we began pushing for the lift legislation and wrote to Akhilesh Yadav, the then chief minister, after he and his wife got stuck in a Vidhan Sabha lift for 30 minutes. We had
pushed for legislation to ensure safe installation, upkeep, and licensing of lifts and elevators in the state,” said Kumar.
Kumar also filed a plea in the Allahabad high court in January 2015 seeking an Act for the state and regulation for safe installation, maintenance, and licensing of lifts and elevators.
He said despite other states like Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Maharashtra having separate legislation governing lifts for decades, U.P. still doesn’t have a clear-cut policy on this. In all, 22 states across the country have lift regulations.
Kumar also provided a draft legislation for state government’s consideration. This draft
was “prepared and substantially inspired” by Maharashtra’s lift legislation. “We had urged the government to have it reviewed by the judicial department before giving it a final shape in a letter to the U.P. government in 2018. According to the proposal, in the event of an accident, the building owner who installed the elevator or a company he appointed for the purpose, would be held accountable. But the matter fizzled out after some time,” said Kumar.
In February 2022, he wrote a letter to the chief secretary on the issue, recounting scores of incidents that had gone unnoticed.
Additional director, electricity safety, VP Srivastav said a
proposal for making a law to regulate installation and maintenance of lifts and escalators was under consideration of the government.
“A draft lift and escalator law has been submitted to the government,” he said, adding: “The law, when enacted, will be applicable to all the lifts in government and private buildings.”
Chief engineer (electrical), PWD, Manohar Lal Yadav said the lift law was drafted incorporating the suggestions and recommendations by various departments after a series of meetings. “The last meeting in this regard was held a month ago,” he said as member of the committee formed for drafting lift rules.