The Hindu : Front Page : 90 p.c. high-rises in the State do not have fire safety clearance

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Tuesday, Mar 18, 2008
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90 p.c. high-rises in the State do not have fire safety clearance

Satyasundar Barik

BHUBANESWAR: It is official now. Close to 90 per cent of the high-rise buildings in Orissa, including the State Secretariat and the Assembly, do not have necessary clearance on fire safety.

Replying to a question by BJD member Ranendra Pratap Swain in the Assembly on Monday, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said only nine buildings were found to be having clearance issued by the Orissa Fire Service Organisation (OFSO).

The OFSO declared 32 buildings unsafe from fire safety point and suggested fire protection measures for 24 tall buildings, Mr. Patnaik said.

Fire service personnel had inspected 113 buildings in cities such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Puri and Berhampur during the past four years and found major violation of fire safety norms. “Inspection reports are being submitted to development authorities concerned,” Mr. Patnaik said.

The high-rise buildings included many top government establishments, residential apartments, hotels and educational institutions.

That fire safety was not a priority for the authorities is clear. The authorities have so far not felt that eight-storeyed Rajiv Bhawan, the most modern government building in the capital city, should secure fire safety clearance. This despite the OFSO suggesting fire safety measures in the building in 2005.

Those running big hotels were also not very serious about fire safety. Only a handful of star hotels in the city have obtained fire safety clearance, apparently to meet the rating standards. Similarly, many prominent educational institutions, including the prestigious Institute of Physics and some buildings of KIIT University, had not been granted the fire safety clearance so far.

This is not all. Some of the residential as well as commercial complexes in the capital have also been declared unsafe. They include Nilachakra Apartment, Jyote Motors, Hotel Sismo, Radhika Tower and Geetanjali Apartment.

Frightening data

The Statewide data is more frightening. About 40 per cent of the high-rise buildings in the State were unsafe, according Mr. Patnaik’s written reply.

Of the 113 buildings inspected by the Fire Service Department, only 50 had obtained no-objection certificate (NOC) before construction.

Out of the eight buildings inspected this year, four were asked to go ahead with new constructions. One building, Khimji and Sons at Sahid Nagar of the city, had not been granted NOC due to non-availability of open space around it.

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