Lacking firefighting equipment, RMC to shut 22 of its 26 community halls from August 1

Sources said that none of the 26 community halls and the two auditoriums – Atal Bihari Vajpayee Auditorium and Pramukhswami Auditorium – that RMC owns have NOC from its fire and emergency services departments.

After the TRP Game Zone fire, the RMC had decided to install firefighting systems in each of its community halls – which function out of 19 buildings – and the two auditoriums, RMC Standing Committee chairman Jaimin Thakar told mediapersons on Wednesday.

“We are cancelling all bookings for the community halls from August. While some of these halls have firefighting equipment, the license has not been renewed… others don’t have them at all. Due to this, we will shut them down from August and make them available for booking after they get fire NOCs,” Thakar said, adding the community halls are likely to remain shut for the entire August.

“After the TRP Game Zone fire, it has come to our notice through print and electronic media that some of our own assets didn’t have firefighting equipment. So, we have decided to install them…,” Thakar said.

RMC officials said that among the 26 halls, only four have fire-fighting systems in place. They are Unit 1 and Unit 2 of Kavi Shree Amrut Ghayal Community Hall near Akashwani Chowk and Unit 1 and Unit 2 of Abhay Bhardwaj Community Hall at Bapa Sitaram Chowk. The two auditoriums also have firefighting systems installed, they added.

“Though neither Amrut Ghayal nor Abhay Bhardwaj halls or the two auditoriums have formal fire NOC, these four buildings are compliant with the latest fire safety norms, as they have firefighting systems, including fire hydrants and smoke detectors, among others, in place. Therefore, we will keep these four community halls and the two auditoriums open for booking,” a civic official said on the condition of anonymity.

“The remaining halls were built around a decade ago when fire safety norms were not very stringent and therefore, don’t have fire NOCs,” the official added.

“The 22 halls have taken around 40 bookings, including about 20 for weddings, in August. We will cancel them and refund the deposit…,” the official said, adding that RMC halls had received approximately 300 bookings in July.

Last month, the Standing Committee had approved a proposal to install firefighting equipment in 26 schools run by the RMC school board and upgrade firefighting systems in 10 other schools at a cumulative cost of Rs 54 lakh.

Restaurants and eateries, meanwhile, remained shut in the city on Wednesday in protest of the sealing drive, which the owners alleged was being conducted in an arbitrary manner. They took out a rally from Jilla Panchayat Chowk to the RMC headquarters in Dhebar Chowk and made a representation to Deputy Municipal Commissioner Chetan Nandani, alleging that their premises were being sealed without any prior notice.