Safety inspections ordered for 55 city malls after Rajkot fire tragedy

30 May 2024 CW Team

Taking lessons from the deadly Rajkot fire, which killed 28 people on May 25, the BMC?s Mumbai fire brigade wing began inspecting city malls starting May 26. As part of this initiative, gaming zones inside these malls were also thoroughly checked.

A total of 55 malls had been inspected so far, of which 13 were served notices for not having complied with fire safety norms, a report showed, a copy of which was with TOI. For instance, in one of the malls, the pump of the fire system was under repair and in another, the six-monthly Form B, which is for compliance with fire safety, had not been submitted. The fire brigade teams intended to complete the inspection of all malls in the next two days.

Fire brigade officials stated that they had repeatedly emphasized that as per section 3 (1) of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention & Life Safety Measures Act, 2006, it was mandatory for every owner or occupier, as the case may be, to provide fire prevention and life safety measures in the building or part of the building. Additionally, as per Section 3 (3), it was mandatory for the owner or occupier to furnish a certificate, i.e., ?Form B,? issued by a Licensed Agency twice a year regarding the maintenance of existing fire prevention equipment and safety measures.

A BMC officer mentioned that there were 69 malls on record that needed to mandatorily have fire fighting systems and also conduct regular fire drills. In the wake of the Rajkot fire, they began inspecting city malls; the gaming zones were also checked for any kind of violations. Among the malls inspected and asked to comply with fire norms were Heera Panna Shopping Centre at Haji Ali, CR2 mall at Nariman Point, Kohinoor City Mall at Kurla, and KenilWorth Shopping Centre at SV Road, Khar.

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