38 govt buildings asked to install foolproof fire safety mechanism

Bihar Fire Services department has asked 38 important government buildings, including the state assembly, Raj Bhavan, chief minister’s secretariat and major hospitals in Patna to install foolproof fire safety mechanism at the earliest and ensure regular maintenance.

Director general of home guard and fire services, Shobha Ahotkar said all fire safety nodal officers of the departments concerned must ensure regular inspections and maintenance of safety equipment installed at their respective buildings.

“We have submitted fire safety audit reports of 38 buildings to the concerned nodal officers and asked them to ensure that all mandatory/required fire safety equipment is installed in these crucial government installations at the earliest,” Ahotkar told PTI.

The department said fire safety audit of 4900 government and private buildings and premises have been conducted till June, 2022 in the state and accordingly issued instructions to them for installation of mandatory safety equipment on the basis of audit reports. These included 649 government buildings, 509 educational institutes, 213 hotels/restaurants, 53 apartments buildings, 71 banquet halls, 340 petrol pumps, 174 LPG cylinder storage godowns, 41 cinema halls, 158 banks, 341 small scale industries and 471 other premises.

The audit was also conducted in 1743 government/private hospitals in the state till June this year, she said adding that the CISF has also conducted its separate fire safety audit of government installations in the state, Ahotkar said. The CISF fire safety audit report is awaited. In Patna instructions have been issued for the installation of effective firefighting equipment at the Assembly, Raj Bhavan, chief minister’s secretariat and major hospitals, she said.

''Although we regularly conduct fire safety audits of government and private buildings in the state, after the May 11 fire at Vishveswarayya Bhawan in Patna we conducted electrical safety audit of all multistoried buildings in the state capital. We also identified 172 fire-prone hotspots in the state and put arrangements in place there to handle fire incidents in future,'' Ahotkar said.

In the Visvesvaraya Bhavan fire huge damage was cause to office records and equipment though there was no loss of life. The building housed multiple state government offices, including road construction and building construction departments.'' The fire services department director general said “Now we are well equipped to handle any sort of fire incidents in Patna as well as in other parts of the state. We have already procured 19 major and hydraulic fire tenders and procurement of 34 additional fire tenders is in the process ... We are also procuring motorcycles fitted with fire-fighting equipment for the deployment in congested areas in the state, specially in Patna”, ''.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had through a cabinet decision approved Rs 44.40 crore for the purchase of six additional hydraulic fire tenders, he added.