Govt regulates fees of registered officers who issue certificates of fire safety

The Department of Urban Development and Urban Housing, through a circular dated August 21, said that while Rs 5,000 will be the maximum fee to be received by FSO-General, it will be Rs 15,000 for FSO-Advance and Rs 25,000 for FSO-Specialist.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Surat Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agarwal said, “It was very important to regulate the fees of FSOs because we had received complaints regarding the discrepancies in fees charged by them and also the high fees being paid by the public to audit buildings. That is why fee regulation was brought in by the government.”

The government, as part of its response to the TRP Game Zone fire that killed 27 people in Rajkot on May 25, had told the Gujarat High Court that it would bifurcate the fire services into prevention and protection wings, to make sure the former would be adept at auditing buildings for fire safety and issuance of FSCs, while the latter would focus solely on firefighting blazes and in rescue activities.

The state government, on June 24, issued a gazette notification mandating owners/occupiers to apply for FSC renewal at least two months before its expiry. It added that private persons registered as FSOs would inspect the premises and issue FSCs based on the verification and approval by the regional fire officer (RFO) or the chief fire officer (CFO). The FSC would be valid for two years.

As per the notification, the RFO or CFO would convene meetings at least once in three months with all registered FSOs within their jurisdictions and give regular updates to the director of Gujarat State Fire Prevention Services.

The FSOs are also expected to upload the findings, post inspection of the buildings on the official website for review by the RFO or CFO, who will verify the on-field data and real-time geotagged photographs submitted by the FSOs. They “may also conduct additional field checks, if necessary”, the notification had said, adding that based on the verification and approval by the RFO or CFO, the FSO shall issue the renewal of the FSC online.

Prevention wings, however, are yet to be set up in the municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot.

When contacted, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner M Thennarasan said, “We are in the process of setting up the Fire Prevention Wing and discussions are underway on its constitution and manpower required for it. We should be able to have it up and running in the next six months.”

Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Devang P Desai added, “The sanctioned posts have been approved from the administrative side. It is now pending before Standing Committee.”

Prevention wing posts had been cleared by Standing Committee and General Body in Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar and Junagadh civic bodies before August 14. In Jamnagar, the posts have been sanctioned by the Standing Committee.