The state fire and emergency services department has sent a notice to South City Garden — a housing complex off New Alipore in southwest Kolkata — accusing its management of non-compliance with fire safety norms.
The notice was sent following a fire in a ninth-floor flat of a 14-storey building in the complex last Saturday.
The fire department’s response has turned the focus on such alleged non-compliance across many residential housing complexes, where residents do not adhere to norms because of lack of funds and/ or awareness.
South City Garden, on BL Saha Road, has more than 700 apartments. Fire department sources said the complex lacked effective firefighting tools.
Ranveer Kumar, director-general, fire and emergency services, told The Telegraph on Friday there was “non-compliance” with the fire-fighting norms in the housing complex. “Adequate pressure was not maintained in the fire hydrant. According to the norms, we have sent a notice to the housing complex about the points of non-compliance,” he said.
Non-compliance after the 30-day notice period ends attracts a police case under the West Bengal Fire Services Act, an official in the fire department said.
Senior officials in the fire department said the fire safety recommendations vary from one housing complex to another, depending on the floor plan, area, height and the distance between two staircases in a block.
“It is mandatory for all housing societies to get a fire licence and renew it every three years after getting the premises inspected by the authorities,” the official said.
However, many housing complexes lack the resources to comply with the norms. Several complexes The Telegraph spoke to said they maintained basic fire-fighting gadgets like fire extinguishers and sand on every floor.
“The promoter did not obtain the fire licence when he handed the complex to us 16 years ago. At that time none of the flat owners knew the rules well enough to challenge the promoter.... It is extremely costly to set up a new fire safety mechanism,” said a resident of a housing complex near Bansdroni on the city’s southern fringes.
Joydeep Banerjee, secretary of South City Garden residents’ association, said last week’s fire was extinguished before a fire tender reached the spot. “We doused the fire on the ninth floor because there was adequate pressure in the fire hydrant,” he said.
Asked about the fire department’s notice, Banerjee said on Friday afternoon that they were yet to receive it. “We will act according to the recommendations,” Banerjee said.
The fire licence of the 10-year-old housing complex, he said, lapsed at least five years ago.
“There are three major defects that we know of. One is the absence of fire-resistant doors that the fire department recommends. The promoter gave us plywood doors. We need more than 400 fire-resistant doors, each of which costs around Rs 25,000. A structural defect in a tower makes it inaccessible to firefighters. The third problem is that the fire pipelines are installed underground, so we are clueless about their condition,” Banerjee said.
Last week’s fire, he said, was the first reported in South City Garden.