The energy department of Maharashtra government, on Saturday, issued a fresh advisory that all high-rise buildings in the state equal to or taller than 70 metres need to have a Fire Evacuation Lift (FEL) installed in the building for safety purposes.
The directive comes in order to speed up the evacuation process during emergencies and fire incidents in the buildings.
A FEL is a specialised elevator in a separate corridor of a building that is away from the occupied area. Such lifts are built with fire resistance equipment and their doors are designed to resist fire for at least two hours.
Of Mumbai's 368 buildings, only 13 high rises currently have FELs installed, even after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued a notification in the year 2018 mandating FEL installations.
In Mumbai and Thane combined, there are a total of 21 buildings with FELs in 2022. Hemant Parab, Chief Fire Officer (CFO) of the Mumbai Fire Brigade, said the numbers are low because the project is time-consuming.
