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Uday Vijayan of fire safety advocacy group Beyond Carlton urges authorities to inspect restaurants for compliances routinely and not as a knee-jerk reaction to a tragedy. Last week, a fire mishap gutted a hookah bar and cafe in south Bengaluru.
Uday was reacting to the citywide audits of restaurants, bars and cafes that have been ordered since a fire erupted at Mudpipe Cafe following a gas leak. The cafe was located atop a four-storey building at Tavarekere junction on Hosur Main Road. It had not obtained a ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the fire services department. It did not have adequate emergency exits or a storage facility for gas cylinders. Following the audits, BBMP has shuttered over 40 outlets and issued notices to 250-plus.
He says such audits should be part of a standard operating procedure (SOP), entrusted to either the fire services department or another competent authority. “Restaurants are highly susceptible to fire accidents,” he reasons. Another of his suggestions is for every F&B outlet to display the fire clearance permit on the premises like in Mumbai.
Beyond Carlton was formed in 2010 in the aftermath of the Carlton Towers fire on Old Airport Road that killed nine, including Uday’s son, and injured 70. In this case, the setback (minimum open space around a building) in the eight-floor building was too narrow for the fire tenders to enter, and the emergency exit had been locked. Following a PIL by Beyond Carlton, Karnataka mandated owner of every building that is 15 metres or higher to approach fire services to renew their NOC every two years. Still, non-compliance continues as evidenced in the case of Mudpipe Cafe. “The recent high-rises are amenable to addressing fire safety. It’s in the older high-rises where we see large-scale violations. These begin after they have got the occupancy certificates,” says Uday.
Meanwhile, the citizen-led group has been campaigning with successive governments to increase the capacity of burns wards. “Currently, two hospitals in Bengaluru have burns wards. One has 50 beds, another has eight,” he says. They have also appealed to the Brand Bangalore committee to prioritise fire safety in city planning.
Safety plan for Odisha
In 2018, Beyond Carlton prepared a five-year fire safety blueprint for Bengaluru in consultation with the Karnataka fire and emergency services department. “We have achieved about 60% goals,” says Uday. Now, it is working with the Odisha government to draw up a fire safety framework for its twin cities, Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack.