Mumbai: Within 24 hours of the Bombay High Court warning to pass an order stopping all development permissions in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has issued a notification for fire safety regulations for buildings vulnerable to terrorists attacks /man-made disasters.
The amended regulations aim at tightening the fire and electric safety measures and regular checks of its equipment to ensure there is no loss of life and property due to fire accidents. Over the last few years, the city has witnessed several fire incidents in not only slum areas but also high rises where many people have lost their lives. Most of these fires accidents were caused due to to non compliance of fire safety norms.
A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar, on Wednesday, had rapped the state government for failing to take steps regarding framing of fire safety rules. It warned that if necessary action isn't taken then it may consider passing an order restraining approval of building plans in Mumbai.
The HC warning had come during the hearing in a public interest litigation (PIL) by advocates Abha Singh and Aditya Pratap, seeking enforcement of the safety regulations in buildings vulnerable to man-made disasters. The bench slammed the state after being informed about the recent building blazes in which there were several fatalities.
Although the Urban Development Department (UDD) had appointed an expert committee to prepare independent safety control Regulations for building safety to deal with man-made disasters, the same were not notified.
On Friday, State’s advocate Jyoti Chavan informed the court that the Urban Development Department issued the notifications on Thursday evening. She said that the notifications will come into force after the same are published in the gazette.
The notification would include security rules in Development Control and Promotion Regulations (DCPR), 2034, for Greater Mumbai and Unified Development Control And Promotion Regulations (UDCPR) for the rest of Maharashtra.
The regulations will be applicable to buildings which have built up area exceeding 10,000 sqm or occupancy of over 1000 persons, which are vulnerable to man-made disasters based on the risk assessment score.
Every high-rise building shall be provided with Fire Towers having minimum 2 hours fire resistance, consisting of a fireman evacuation lift with a ventilated lobby as an integral part of the fire escape staircase, preferably at landing level.
High Rise buildings of 90 metres and above, shall be provided with fire break water tank system with water tank system with fire pumps at every 65 m height interval from ground.
Before undertaking development work, the developer has to submit a certificate of supervision by a Licensed Electrical Engineer with respect to planning, designing of electrical installations, and also supervision of electrical installations during the progress of buildings. Similar certificate has to be submitted after completion of the project, while submitting a proposal for Occupation Certificate (OC).
“In case of discrepancies observed in the planning, designing and execution… the licence issued shall be revoked and the Electrical Engineer/Consultant may be debarred from further practice/business..,” the notification read.
The notification also lists criteria of regulations applicable after completion of building, which states that the fire protection measures shall be well maintained by the owner / society.
Moreover, the electrical installations have to be inspected periodically, at least once in 5 years and certified by a Licensed Electrical Engineer.
It specifies that the conditions regarding maintaining the electrical and fire installations shall be incorporated in the Occupation / Completion Certificate issued by the Authority. “Failure to maintain the fire installations and periodical certification may lead to withdrawal of Occupation Certificate by the Authority in addition to fine/ penalty and other actions from the concerned authorities,” the notification adds.
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Failure to maintain the electrical installations and periodical certification may lead to disconnection of power supply till its rectification. The HC has kept the matter for hearing on November 20.