Now,city highrises face the heat

Four days after a major fire swept through the Stephen Court in Park Street,the Kolkata police and other agencies conducted surprise raids in various highrises of the city on Saturday...

Four days after a major fire swept through the Stephen Court in Park Street,the Kolkata police and other agencies conducted surprise raids in various highrises of the city on Saturday,and found irregularities in maintenance of standard fire safety norms.

The state government has set up a special committee,comprising the Kolkata police,KMC,state fire department and state disaster relief department,to evaluate whether mandatory fire safety mechanisms are in place in highrises. After the committee submits its report,action will be taken against the offenders.

We initiated a drive today and visited various buildings and highrises in the city. Our team inspected some buildings and found irregularities. We will submit a report to the commissioner of Kolkata police. Notices will,thereafter,be served on buildings for immediate rectification, said Banibrata Basu,Special Commissioner of Police (II).

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The special team,led by Basu,inspected the Mercantile Building and premises numbers 7,A B and C at Kiron Shankar Ray Road. A number of anomalies came to the fore: most buildings did not have fire safety mechanisms like proper escape routes,fire extinguishers,proper wiring and other mandatory mechanisms.

The committee has already identified 12 highrises and 32 markets in the city as fire hazards,said a senior officer,adding that the drive will go on for the next few weeks.

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