In the wake of many fire incidents reported in last few months, the subject of fire safety and its management has become hot topic of discussion among residents in the city. The residents are alarmed and they want proper check of the fire safety system installed in the societies.
Seeing the situation, City Spidey paid visits to many societies in Dwarka to assess the condtion of fire safety mechanisms. During the conversation with the residents, City Spidey came to know startling facts. At many places, people were not aware about the fire safety mechanism installed in the societies.
However, many high rises, developed by Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA), were found to be lacking in proper safety mechanism. It was seen that either the fire fighting system was damaged or non-functional.
Broken pipes, damaged alarms, missing tools and many such things were found to be common at these societies. The condition is even worse at the multi-storied buildings developed by DDA.
Amid such a scenario, there is a serious threat to the people living at these societies. The managements of the societies were also found to be least bothered about the prevailing situation.
In Dwarka, there are more than 350 high rise residential societies. All these societies got NOCs from the fire department. As per the rules, these certificates are valid for five years. Also, the societies are required to submit a report stating the proper status of the fire safety mechanisms every year.
But, ironically, these societies were nonchalant about these norms. The defunct state of the fire safety equipment clearly showed that there has been ignorance from the fire department as well.
General Secretary of Federation of CGHS, Dwarka, Sudha Sinha said, “This is unfortunate that the managements are not serious about the maintenance of the fire fighting systems. They always take the situation very lightly. We tried to make the community aware but ultimately it is up to the management and residents to improve the situation.”
Residents in the societies are often reluctant to say anything against the management as they want to avoid any altercations. The managements are not pressurised to improve the condition. The situation is same at commercial buildings as well.
Many people said that fire fighting systems were installed about 15-20 years back. And, the only intention behind it was procurement of NOC from fire department. The management forgot about it afterwards. Nobody does periodical inspections.
“Managing committees come and go in every society, but no attention is given towards this vital requirement. If the system hasn't been tested, or has not had routine maintenance, it can put everyone at risk. In the absence of fines and penalties, occupiers or societies do not bother to conduct regular maintenance of the fire prevention systems. Therefore, it is a need of the community as well as authorities to think and plan out a method to have a full-proof fire prevention and fire fighting system,” said Radhika Singh, a resident of Sector 6.
