Unsung Heroes: 13 years on, Bengaluru’s ‘Beyond Carlton’ keeps flame alive to keep fire tragedies at bay

A fire safety workshop organised by Beyond Carlton. (Express)

The genesis of ‘Beyond Carlton’ dates back to 2010, a month after Uday Vijayan lost his 23-year-old son Akhil Uday (a financial analyst) to the tragedy on February 23. Vijayan reached out to the grieving family members who lost their dear ones to the tragedy when he realised that the anger brewing within the relatives of the deceased actually indicated ‘everything that had to go wrong from a systemic point of view went wrong at Carlton’. Thus the idea of Beyond Carlton was born. Vijayan along with Nitin Dubey (one of the survivors) founded Beyond Carlton, which is a charitable trust consisting of trustees who are family members of those who lost their lives or were injured in the Carlton Towers tragedy.

According to Vijayan, ‘Beyond Carlton’ was founded on three main pillars or 3As – awareness, accountability and advocacy. The trust was built with the focus on holding the agencies and authorities accountable for the Carlton Tower fire accident, creating awareness among the general public on acting wisely during fire accidents, and advocating for stringent laws and policies to prevent fire tragedies.

“The whole effort of Beyond Carlton is to ensure that no family goes through what I have been through and no other father should lose a son, or lose a husband or a wife,” says Vijayan, founder of Laundrymate, a Bengaluru-based laundry services company.

One of the important campaigns of Beyond Carlton is also #FireSense101 where the trust associates with Bengaluru Apartment Federation and conducts fire safety workshops, and programmes for estate managers. (Express)

One of the first moves by Beyond Carlton was to file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the support of Namma Bengaluru Foundation in the Karnataka High Court resulting in a government notification for stringent preventive measures for high-rise buildings in Karnataka.

“We were shocked to learn that the fire department did not have the power to enter a building and inspect the fire safety norms and compliance issues. This is what prompted us to file a PIL in the High Court and later resulted in a government notification,” said Vijayan.

Gradually, Beyond Carlton transitioned towards creating awareness in schools, corporate offices, and the general public at large using radio, social media and other platforms on fire safety measures, guidelines and laws. The trust has volunteers from different walks of life, including individuals from academic institutions, communications backgrounds, fire departments, and disaster management, who engage with people on fire safety norms.

One of the important campaigns of Beyond Carlton is also #FireSense101 where the trust associates with Bengaluru Apartment Federation and conducts fire safety workshops, and programmes for estate managers.

According to Cheryl Rebello, CEO of Beyond Carlton and a social entrepreneur, the target is to reach 100 estate managers a year and conduct 1 session per quarter, involving 25 estate managers in each session.

“We work with estate managers very closely because they are trained in fire safety measures, handling the administration of the building and are aware of the ins and outs of the apartment. We also alert them on things such as hazard identification, risk assessment, mitigation measures, and engaging the community through our sessions,” says Rebello who adds that most of the training happens on Sundays in a community hall.

Interestingly in 2018, Beyond Carlton also presented a one-of-its-kind five-year blueprint on fire safety for Bengaluru to the Karnataka government. The blueprint consists of four components such as quantified goals over a five-year term that are practical and achievable; an actionable roadmap with quarterly milestones; a single owner responsible for the execution and transparent quarterly performance data against milestones.

In fact, exactly a year ago on March 17, Beyond Carlton signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), the department of revenue and disaster management, Govt. of Odisha for the preparation of a comprehensive fire safety framework and plan for the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. The agreement was signed to work on setting common goals and activities to ensure enhanced fire safety in the identified cities, to develop a strategic vision of fire safety for Odisha and to promote community-based fire safety awareness amongst other objectives.

The trust is serving as an advisor and consultant on fire safety for the Odisha government on a pro-bono basis. Following the extensive reach of the fire safety plan, Beyond Carlton is also mulling coming out with another blueprint or as Vijayan calls it ‘blueprint on fire safety 2.0’.

Shockingly, only two hospitals in Bengaluru city – Victoria Hospital and St John’s Medical College Hospital – have a burns ward. In 2021, Vijayan shared a proposal to the state government to increase the burns ward in all the government hospitals to help treat victims of fire tragedies. Unfortunately, the proposal is yet to see the light of day.

‘Beyond Carlton’ also holds a memorial service every year in February to remember the nine lives lost in the Carlton Towers fire tragedy and hosts a lecture featuring well-known speakers on urban issues. In fact, based on a proposal by Beyond Carlton in 2021, the state government has also begun to recognise February 23 as Fire Awareness and Prevention Day. The memorial lecture involves experts who engage in fire safety conversations, sharing experiences of surviving a fire tragedy which is then followed by a musical tribute to light up the mood. In fact, the event also recognises and honours firemen who have showcased their valour during fire-fighting missions.

“A lot of us still believe that we will never die in a fire. That is culturally an issue we have as Indians. However, we are slowly noticing changes where the new constructions are more fire-safety compliant than the older ones. The hope of fire services reaching you is a little distance, unless there is a robust synergy between the traffic department and the fire department. Our effort is to take Beyond Carlton beyond Karnataka, and the idea is to work on how to make cities in India more safe from fire,” says Vijayan.