The Calcutta Municipal Corporation and the fire department will approach the government to amend sections of the fire services act that come in the way of construction of five or six-storey buildings, Firhad Hakim said on Wednesday.

Hakim, the chairperson of the CMC’s board of administrators, held a meeting with fire officers and CMC officials where the proposal to amend the act was discussed.

The CMC’s building rules allow certain relaxations for new constructions coming up in place of old, crumbling structures. The relaxations are related to leaving mandatory open space on the plot and the building’s height vis-a-vis the road width in the front.

“The building rules allow lesser open space in case of buildings in place of old, crumbling structures and if the old buildings have multiple tenants,” a CMC official said.

This relaxation is given to ensure the new structure has adequate space to rehabilitate all tenants. “We have to give some incentive to builders.”

In allowing the additional space, the height of the building increased. In the building rules, the height of a building depends on the road width in the front.

“In case of buildings with tenants, the height is more than what is allowed for other buildings with a road of similar width in the front,” the official said.

The relaxations are given to five or six-storey buildings, he said.

“We will jointly send a proposal to amend portions of the fire services act. A lot of building plans are not getting approved because of this,” Hakim said.