Fire safety audit must for commercial buildings, says CS Santhi Kumari

Hyderabad: Fire safety audit in every commercial building with the third party is must, State Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari has said on Friday and instructed the officials to take action against those who did not follow the fire safety rules which already in the force in the state particularly in the city of Hyderabad.

She directed the concerned authorities to immediately take fire prevention measures in all building complexes where commercial and business activities taking place in the city . Special Chief Secretary of Municipal and Urban Development Department Arvind Kumar, GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar and top officials of Fire Department attended a meeting on fire safety in the commercial buildings here.

Santhi kumari said that steps should be taken to immediately to set up fire prevention devices, alarms to issue warnings about accidents and other infrastructure in commercial complexes in all major cities of the state along with GHMC.

The officials have been asked to take up the removal of encroachments in the cellars of commercial complexes. Strict action should be taken against keeping gas cylinders, chemicals and other substances that have the potential for explosion in the cellars. She said that such important measures should be taken immediately in commercial complexes such as hospitals, restaurants, etc.

It is mandatory that everyy business establishment should possess a fire safety certificate and measures should be taken to install water storage tanks either in the cellars or on the top of the building in large commercial buildings. The CS said that an appropriate time limit would be imposed to take up the these precautions.

The chief secretary said a special app would be created to inform the measures taken on fire prevention measures and the precautions will be taken for fire prevention accordingly. Fire safety audit would be conducted by third party agencies in every commercial complex.

The officials suggested large-scale publicity programs to sensitize people on the prevention of fire accidents and the measures to be taken immediately in case of accidents. GHMC EVDM Director Prakash Reddy, Chief City Planner Devender Reddy, Fire Service Director Lakshmi Prasad, Regional Fire Officer Papaiah and others participated in this meeting.