Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Centre seeks review of building rules

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Home Department is understood to have asked the State government to enforce safety norms, uniformly, while issuing clearances for constructing major commercial and residential buildings.

Official sources told The Hindu here that in view of the sporadic incidents of terrorist acts in different parts of the country, regulations should be made to ensure that surveillance through closed circuit television cameras is made mandatory in buildings where there are large footfalls and public gatherings.

Such regulations will be mainly applicable to commercial buildings which house shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, marriage halls, convention centres and multiplexes with mass assemblage. The regulations must be insisted upon as mandatorily as in the case of fire and other safety norms while issuing licence for commercial and residential structures.

Though the issue had figured at the meetings of Chief Secretaries, Home Secretaries and Directors General of Police, it has been found that there was no uniformity in the regulations for installation of safety equipment. It was in this context that the Centre asked the State government to review the rules.

Local Administration Department sources said that the Kerala Municipal Building Rules in force in the State do not mandate installation of safety equipment in commercial buildings. In view of the Centre’s direction and the changing security perception, the department will have to take steps to incorporate necessary changes in the rules.

Already there is a proposal for regulating construction of high-rises in the vicinity of the residential areas of VIPs and areas of strategic importance. Such areas will be demarcated as special security zones and construction will be regulated within 250 metres of such zones. Changes will be made in the building rules too as directed by the Centre, sources said.

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