U.P. lift law final draft still awaits state govt nod
THE PROPOSED LAW FINALISED AFTER DELIBERATIONS FOR FIVE LONG YEARS HAS BEEN AWAITING NECESSARY ACTION BY THE GOVERNMENT REPORTEDLY SINCE OCTOBER 2021
LUCKNOW: Several states like Haryana and Delhi have their own law to regulate safe installation and operation of lifts and escalators, but India’s biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, is still awaiting such a regulation even as lift accidents in high- rise apartment and government buildings take place every now and then, jeopardizing users’ safety.
According to people dealing with the issue, the proposed law finalised after deliberations for five long years has been awaiting necessary action by the government since October 2021, with only queries and letters being exchanged in between.
“The final draft of the proposed Uttar Pradesh Lift and Escalator Act was sent to the energy department on October 7, 2021 for clearance after several rounds of meetings and amendments since the proposal was first mooted in 2018 in view of an increasing number of lift accidents..
The mishaps included one in which the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife remained stuck in a Vidhan Sabha lift for half an hour,” an official said. “The department has not cleared the draft yet,” he added.
The official said reminders too had been sent to the government in this regard and the status of the law was also communicated to the chief secretary who, on April 19, 2022, made a query after he received a letter from the department of housing and urban planning.
Director, electricity safety and special secretary, energy, Anupam Shukla said that the energy department might clear the draft of the proposed Lift and Escalator Act by next week or so after which the same would be sent to the Cabinet for approval.
“Only recently, a meeting in this regard was held at the level of the additional chief secretary, energy to discuss some further changes in the draft law. We expect the draft to be cleared by the energy department very soon,” he said.
Another official aware of the issue said that there was, however, no possibility of the law being passed by the UP legislature during its brief winter session beginning Monday.
“And this means the lift law will have to wait for the next session to see the light of the day if the energy department and then the Cabinet clear the proposal at all by then,” he pointed out.
Uttar Pradesh first drafted the Lift Act in 2018 and then made a number of amendments to it before the final draft was sent to the energy department 14 months ago for approval.
A Ghaziabad resident and office-bearer of Association of Apartment Owners, Alok Kumar filed a PIL in 2015, seeking directions to the state government formulate and implement a comprehensive regulation for safe installation, maintenance and licensing of lifts and escalators in private and government buildings. “The PIL is still active,” the official said.
The proposed law, among other things, seeks to punish one who obtains the lift license with fine of Rs 1 lakh or an imprisonment for three months if a lift accident happens due to violation of the provisions of the Act.
The pending law also makes annual maintenance mandatory and empowers authorities to even seal a building in case of violation of the regulation under which third-party insurance of lift users will also be compulsory.
States like Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Naidu, Kerela, West Bengal and Jharkhand are said to have already enacted law for safe installation operation of lifts.
“It is surprising that despite reporting lift accidents, some of them very serious both in government and non-government buildings, on a regular basis, U.P. is yet to get a law for the safety of lit users,” remarked the official.