High street on tinderbox as safety takes a back seat
On any weekend, a trip to Khan Market, the most expensive high-street shopping location in the capital, involves the following: Sweating it out to find a parking space and fitting the car in the tightest of the spots, taking a walk through a not-so-well-lit back alley teeming with patrons, and finally climbing a steep and narrow staircase. Now imagine if you have to make a hasty retreat in case of a fire. Scary, right?
Cut to Lajpat Nagar market, a commercial establishment in a middle class locality in South Delhi, famous for wholesale fabric shops and almost every conceivable knick-knack and household item. The market, spread over a kilometre or so, has just four major exits, where the police have placed barricades for security concerns, boxing up the place. Add to that cars parked outside parking lots. Inside, a series of alleys have hundreds of shops with one small exit. At any given day, the area sees a footfall of over 100,000, making it one of the most crowded markets in the city.
New Delhi, which witnessed rapid and haphazard growth in the last 30 years, expanded without much thought to safety, according to people in the know. Illegal construction, lack of adherence to any building codes or fire safety norms while setting up commercial establishments have turned the national capital into a major safety hazard, officials said. With more than 50 major commercial complexes and markets, 6,000 eating joints and barely 20 per cent with valid fire clearances, New Delhi is sitting on a virtual tinderbox. In the backdrop of the ongoing sealing exercise across Delhi, Business Standard spoke to officials and businesses to assess the fire safety situation.
Saved by technicalities According to Delhi Fire Service officials, a restaurant which has a seating capacity of less than 50 patrons, can operate without a fire no objection certificate (NOC). This also means no one from the fire department comes and checks if the restaurants are taking adequate fire safety measures or whether they actually have less than 50 covers or more. Almost 75 per cent of the establishments claim to operate with less than 50 covers. “It is part of the guidelines, we did not make it. But yes there are times we go on drives to educate restaurant owners, tell them to keep their fire safety equipment up to date. I do not know if that helps,” said a senior fire official. In the case of Khan Market where as many as 16 of the 75 odd restaurants were sealed, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) alleged these restaurants were running out of establishments which till now have not been converted from residential to commercial.
“It means they have not taken any of the permissions required and have next to no fire safety norms in place,” said a senior NDMC official. On being asked why the establishments were not sealed earlier, the official said drives take time as requisite permissions need to be taken. “We have to ask for police back up, get approvals and do everything by the book otherwise, the owners can challenge the sealing,” he added.