Lekha G
The Gujarat High Court has suggested the local authorities to direct hospitals, schools and other establishments to display the status of their fire safety No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) on a board outside their premises.
The State’s local urban bodies have informed the Court about the lack of fire safety NOC at hundreds of hospitals including Covid-19 hospitals and government and private schools.
The Court said, “Ask hospitals with no fire NOC to place Flexi boards stating that they don’t have fire safety. Then see how many patients get admitted there. Ask hospitals to put up a big banner saying they have a fire NOC till this period.”
Mihir Joshi, lawyer of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said that there is no present mechanism to detect if a building has renewed the NOC but a system of online monitoring was being devised for the same.
The Court further suggested the corporation to work out a system using tax collection details and said that the citizens are equally responsible for following rules related to NOCs
A number of fire accidents have been reported at Covid hospitals in Gujarat in the last few months with the most notable one being in the Bharuch Hospital on May 1 killing 18 people and other fire accidents at private hospitals in Ahmedabad and Rajkot.
The Court further observed affidavits of two fire officers who visited the Bharuch Hospital on April 30 to inspect fire safety measures
The Division Bench of Justice Bela Trivedi and Bhargav D Karia made the suggestion while hearing a PIL on the government’s fire safety measures for buildings particularly hospitals and schools.