Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): Provisional fire No Objection Certificates (NOCs) to institutional buildings including hospitals will soon be a thing of the past as the Divisional Competent Authorities of Urban Administration Department (UAD) is all set to roll out a fire plan which will be binding on all establishments.
The fire plan is likely to come into existence from next week. A senior officer of UAD on condition of anonymity confirmed to Free Press that a provisional fire NOC which is currently in force will be done away with and in its place a fire plan will be approved to institution buildings. The development comes in wake of Jabalpur hospital fire incident in which at least eight people had died.
Onus will now be on the building owner to submit in writing that as per the fire plan all safety measures were in place and in proper working condition. After inspection, fire safety certificate will be issued to the institutional buildings. The fire safety certificate will be given for three to five years, however, inspection of the buildings will be carried out on regular intervals.
As per the proposed fire plan, the institutional buildings will have to ensure an emergency gate. The Jabalpur hospital where a fire had broken out did not have an emergency fire exit.
Meanwhile, UAD has cleared the draft proposal of the Fire Safety Bill and it will be tabled in the Assembly’s next session. Notably, it was after the Jabalpur hospital fire tragedy that UAD Minister Bhupendra Singh had directed to come up with a Fire Safety Bill. UAD officers studied the Fire Safety Act of different states in preparing the bill for Madhya Pradesh.
