Half of over 5,400 restaurants and eateries do not comply with building norms.
NEW DELHI: The tragic incident of fire that broke out at a hotel in Karol Bagh here and claimed 17 lives earlier this week, is just the tip of the iceberg, as several such restaurants and hotels in Delhi are operating without fire safety clearances and openly flouting building norms, according to highly placed sources in the Delhi fire department.
Following the Karol Bagh hotel fire earlier this week, Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday that the Delhi government has cancelled the fire safety licences of 57 hotels for various violations after inspecting 80 such establishments in the city. In a tweet, Jain said: “In all, NoC of 57 hotels out of 80 inspected are cancelled. All of them will be closed.”
There are over 5,400 functional restaurants and eateries in Delhi out of which more than 50% are non-complaint with building norms notified by the government of Delhi; many have not obtained fire safety clearances, risking the lives of thousands of people who enter their premises on a daily basis.
Haus Khas village, one of the most popular party spots for the national capital’s young crowd, is teeming with cafés and pubs that have been opened randomly in already dilapidated structures. Out of these numerous cafés and pubs, only three have a fire safety clearance, while the rest operate while openly flouting the rules, according to Delhi Fire Service sources.
Such is also the story at the popular and posh Khan Market in the heart of the national capital. In recent years, Khan Market has also seen a massive growth in the number of cafés and pubs in old and dilapidated buildings most of which operate on the top floors of such buildings, including the terrace. Commercial activity on the terrace and balconies in old and heritage buildings are banned throughout Delhi.
Not only this, all these places have a single and narrow entry and exit points. There are no emergency exits located in any of these buildings that house most of these cafés. According to fire complaint rules, the width of the staircase in restaurants and eateries is supposed to be 1.5 metres, but this norm is also not complied with. Many of these places do not even have fire extinguishers and fire alarms in place.
The fire safety rules for eateries and restaurants require a mandatory two continuous staircases of 1.5m width, water curtains, hose pipes and smoke management system on all floors, at least six fire extinguishers on all floors, separate entry and exit doors of 5m width. Exit doors are also required to be free from any obstructions, among other important requirements.
A senior Delhi Fire Service officer told The Sunday Guardian, “The responsibility for checking the mushrooming of such illegal commercial activities in such old and fragile structures in places like Haus Khas and Khan Market lies with the Municipal Corporations and Delhi Police. It is not our mandate to crack down on illegal buildings and illegal activities. We are for fighting fire and saving as many lives as possible.”
The Delhi Fire Service officer also said that the shortage of staff adds to the woes of the fire services department as it does not become possible for them to go to every establishment and physically check and report back. “What in turn is done by the department is that we take an undertaking from the establishment owner that they are complying with all the said rules and will be following them throughout. However, what we have noticed over the years is that, eateries state in their application that they are 48-49 seater restaurants and since less than 50 seater eateries do not require fire clearance, they escape. They then slowly start expanding their seats using the balconies and terraces which, at times, go up to 80-100 seats. ”
Fire service officers also complained about the congested settlement, unauthorised colonies and operation of commercial factories and establishments in residential areas, making it difficult for fire-fighting officers to reach on time and execute their job with minimum wastage of time.
Another senior Delhi Fire Service officer told this correspondent: “Areas like Karol Bagh, Gandhi Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Nariana, Seemapuri, Mayapuri, Geeta Colony etc, are very crowded with narrow lanes and very heavy and congested settlements, making it difficult for even manoeuvring our vehicles. At times, the distance of the place where our car is parked to the place where fire catches is several kilometers; so we lose a lot of time in fixing hose pipes to reach that area. Also, commercial activities in residential areas cause a huge risk, because an illegal factory running in a residential area can spread fire to residences and cause huge damage.”
The Delhi Police’s licencing authority responsible for giving out licences to these outlets, has also sent out notices to several of these eateries over the last few years.
According to a senior police officer at the Delhi Police’s licencing authority, they have issued more than 5,000 challans in the last two years to several eateries for non-compliance with rules and regulations of operations.