Most high-rises in Ghaziabad lack firefighting systems

GHAZIABAD: Several buildings in Ghaziabad lack firefighting measures and have failed to adhere to fire safety norms. Officials of the district fire department said that they have inspected 113 residential highrise buildings where firefighting systems were absent in the last couple of years.

The fire department is conducting inspections and has also lodged cases against erring high-rise buildings, sources said. Officials estimate that there are about 300 residential high-rises across Ghaziabad.

“Of the 113 high-rise buildings that were inspected, only 54 took rectification measures of their firefighting systems, while the rest are yet to respond. We have already lodged 16 cases in the court of the chief judicial magistrate for flouting fire safety norms. There are also many instances where the high-rise buildings have not renewed ‘no objection certificates’ (NOCs), which is mandatory,” said Sunil Kumar Singh, chief fire officer (CFO), Ghaziabad.

Singh said that the situation is worse in industrial units and about 90% of them do not have NOCs. “It is so because getting an NOC is not mandatory in buildings that are below 15 metres in height but a firefighting system in proper order is desirable.

After the Mundka fire incident in Delhi that killed at least 27 people on May 13, some residents are coming to take NOCs, but the pace is still slow”, he added.

“There are different types of commercial buildings such as hospitals. We checked about 202 hospitals and only 42 of them had fire-fighting systems in place. We have written to the health department to take a note of such lapses. For other commercial buildings, we keep writing to agencies such as the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) and others,” CFO Singh said.

According to official records, Ghaziabad district witnessed 3,177 fire incidents from January 2019 to March 2022, which claimed 27 lives, while the fire department claimed to have saved the lives of about 214 persons.

Fire department officials said that in many cases, they had to toil hard to rescue people who were trapped inside buildings due to blockages on the main exit and locked doors on terraces.

The members of resident welfare associations said that there are multiple issues that hamper implementation of proper fire safety norms.

“There is a general tendency to overlook fire safety norms till the time a major fire erupts somewhere in the vicinity. Even though most buildings have fire safety equipment, there are hardly any fire drills and some high-rises also avoid expenses on maintenance. They need to be sensitised and there has to be enforcement by lodging cases as it is a question of human lives,” said VK Mittal, president of Kaushambi apartments RWA.

“The renewal of NOCs is time consuming and involves too many procedures. The fire department should conduct random checks for the movement of fire tenders,” said Alok Kumar, an apartment owner.