Mumbai: A special drive conducted by the Mumbai Fire brigade (MFB) had brought to notice that many of the buildings in the city are not complying with the fire safety norms. Recently, notices were sent to 158 hotel-restaurants and 63 buildings and given a stipulated time to carry out the required measures.
The fire brigade conducts regular inspections and issues notices to the residential and commercial establishments for non-compliance. If they fail to comply with the fire safety norms even after 120 days of the notice, legal action will be taken against them.
Around 786 hotel-restaurants and 147 commercial-residential buildings were inspected during the special drive conducted in December 2022 by the MFB.
The notices were served to the hotels and buildings under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act 2006. As per section 6 of the act, it is the owners or occupiers' liability to provide for fire prevention and fire safety measures. “If the corrective action is not taken within a stipulated time, the MFB initiates prosecution action by disconnecting water and electricity supply to the premises. Most of the common violations are staircases being encroached, lack of sprinklers, fire alarms and smoke detectors. In some fire incidents, it was found that firefighting systems were defective and non-functional which affected the firefighting operations," said the fire official.
Sanjay Manjrekar, Chief Fire Officer of MFB said, “Currently, we are focused on the recruitment drive. Time has been given to the societies and establishments to comply with the norms.”
As per the fire safety rules, the occupiers or developer have to submit ‘Fire Act B Form’ twice in a year – January and July. But even after sending repeated reminders, they do not furnish the form B issued by a licensed agency, said another fire official.
Recent fires
Dec 27, 2022
Fire broke out in two galas on the second floor of Mittal Industrial estate in Marol at Andheri East
Dec 28
20-25 galas of scrap material and vehicle spare parts gutted at market in Kapadia Nagar, Kurla west
Jan 7, 2023
20-25 shops destroyed in fire at Abdul Rehman Street, Near Jumma Masjid
Jan 11
Fire on second floor of a building at Dagadi chawl, Byculla West. No injuries
Jan 22
15-20 shops were gutted in a fire incident in a market on CSTM Road, Kurla West
