Coaching centres in city throw caution to wind

Ameerpet: There is a saying that if anyone tosses a pebble in mid air in Ameerpet, Himayathnagar and Dilsukhnagar, there is every possibility that it would land in one of the coaching centres. Thousands of coaching centres jostle for space and are in watertight compartments in buildings. Following the recent fire incident in Surat, the GHMC officials have sprung into action and are planning to crack the whip on the coaching centres that do not have fire safety measures.

The Director of Vigilance, Enforcement and Disaster management, Vishwajith Kampati, says, "The major causes of fire accidents are suffocated buildings and lack of maintenance of safety measures in electrical wiring. We have started groundwork and within the next few days we would have a list of coaching centres that do not have safety measures."

"We have been instructed to find out the details of coaching centers in the city and submit the information within 2-3 days," said K V Krishna Kumar, District fire officer, GHMC. He further added, "The major causes of fire accidents are suffocated buildings and lack of maintenance of safety measures in electrical wiring."

"We have no problems regarding safety measures in our institute. Ventilation is good which can prevent a lot of fire accidents. If in case of any accident, there are ways to escape," says Bhavani who is preparing for civil service exam at RC Reddy IAS Study Circle, Himayathnagar.

"How can we think that these coaching centers are maintaining safety norms? There are some institutes beside transformers. It is such a dangerous issue if any accident took place. Government should respond and take a perfect action," says Bhaskar Rao, a tea shop owner near Rao's Spoken English Institute, Maithri Vanam.

"The recent incident happened in Surat is disappointing but we are maintaining all safety measures required. We have fire preventing equipment, our building contains two stair cases and also we never conduct classes in the cellar region," says Prabhu, Sadhana Coaching centre, Dilsukhnagar.

"They make 600 students sit in a classroom, which creates a lot of suffocation. Even the building is not fully constructed; it is still in plastering stage. They manage with tarpons which are very easy to get short circuited," says Somesh M, student in Unique Study Circle, Dilsukhnagar.