Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

Notices served on cinema theatres

Ramesh Susarla

GUNTUR : The District Administration (DA) on Friday began serving notices to 143 cinema theatres in all municipal towns and villages of Guntur district asking their managements to equip the cinemas with fire-fighting material or face non-renewal of license.

The Joint Collector Rahul Bojja told The Hindu the AP High Court had given an interim order on June 29 to District Collectors to issue notices to install fire-fighting equipment as per the National Building Code of India, 2005.

The DA has called for a status of theatres so a report could be submitted to the Government after the HC-stipulated 60 days.

All existing halls have to adhere to the entire norm as far as practicable.

The theatres would be required to set up rooftop water tanks of 10,000 litres or more depending on their capacity, remove all constructions and parking lots around the main hall to allow fire tenders to move freely, install battery back-up of four hours to provide lighting in case of power failure.

Wherever space was available, a minimum of 2-metre wide staircase had to be provided to allow evacuation of people within two minutes, the District Fire Officer N. Mohan Rao, said.

The Department of Fire did not have any jurisdiction over the cinema theatres to inspect their premises so far.

Now license renewal would require approval from the Department of Fire every year and after a 60-day period a status report would be sent to the Government , he said.

In Guntur district only five theatres are above 10 metres in height - two in Guntur, one each in Tenali and Narsaraopet, which would need to have some additional infrastructure.

Now any building above 6 mts. constructed in an area of 500 sq. mts. or less would be required to obtain a fire fitness certificate every year.

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