MoEF withdraws guidelines on highrises,leaves fire safety to states

Facing stiff opposition from several state governments,including those of three Congress-ruled states,the Jayanthi Natarajan-led environment

Facing stiff opposition from several state governments,including those of three Congress-ruled states,the Jayanthi Natarajan-led environment ministry has withdrawn its controversial guidelines on highrise buildings and decided to leave fire safety issues to the state governments and local authorities as recommended by the Kasturirangan Committee.

Modifying its February 7,2012 guidelines on highrises,the Ministry of Environment and Forests MoEF has issued a fresh order,saying that while issues relating to fire fighting preparedness of highrise buildings are extremely important,it is recognised that it may not be practically feasible for all states to follow uniform norms.

The new order,dated June 6,says that a flexible approach is called for given the variations across states and,within a given state,across local bodies in terms of population,density,pressure on land etc.

The modified guidelines say that the correlation between the height of a building and the width of the adjoining road shall be built according to the rules and regulations of the state governments and local authorities instead under relevant Acts and legislations,taking into account local requirements and circumstances.

On the issue of location of a fire station,the modified guidelines say that primarily it shall be the responsibility of the owner/occupier of the building to provide for adequate fire protection measures as envisaged under the National Building Code of India or the relevant State Act. This aspect,the guidelines say,must be strictly enforced by the state governments while issuing NOC in respect of fire safety.

The state governments need to provide for required fire service infrastructure to ensure that in case of fire in a building,the fire tenders are able to reach the site in time,say within 10 minutes of the incident in urban areas.The state governments should formulate action plans to ensure development of such infrastructure in a time-bound manner, the guideline says.

The modified order also asks the state governments to inform the MoEF after they have taken requisite action as specified. The MoEF says in its order that some flexibility needs to be provided to the state governments and accordingly it is modifying its guidelines.

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The governments of three Congress-ruled states Maharashtra,Haryana and Uttarakhand had written to Natarajan,seeking a review of the 2012 guidelines that had led to the stalling of key infrastructural projects and slowed down job creation. Real-estate developers had taken the issue to the PMO,saying that state governments and local authorities were better equipped and informed to frame such regulations and guidelines.

The MoEF had finally set up a committee headed by Planning Commission member Dr K Kasturirangan in December 2012 to review the guidelines.