Suman Malik, a resident of Youngsters Apartments in Sector 6, Dwarka, talks about the unpreparedness of societies to deal with any fire incident.
The horrific Surat coaching center tragedy which killed 22 kids has once again put the spotlight on how easily fire safety regulations are violated across the country and how most of the buildings are in a perpetual state of unpreparedness for any sort of disaster.
The situation is no different across the group housing societies in Dwarka.
Most of these societies have multi-storeyed buildings along with basements. These buildings had received necessary clearances from DDA building department and Delhi Fire Service at the time of possession of flats.
Most of the residents living in these societies had received a provisional occupancy certificate (POC), as per DDA building bye-laws, at the time of shifting to their houses. But many have not taken the completion certificate from DDA as required by the bye-laws. As per the laws, clearance from Delhi Fire Service need to be taken at the time of sanction and again at the time of completion.
The worrisome part is that in most of these societies, the necessary fire safety equipment is in a non-functional state as the management of the societies haven’t bothered to maintain them because of the cost involved. At present, fire safety systems in most CGHS in Dwarka are not in working condition.
The societies and their RWAs hardly do any annual audits to check the status of firefighting equipment.
All these reasons clearly suggest that most of these societies in Dwarka are sitting on a tinderbox.
The RWAs and residents need to address these aforementioned issues and take steps to prepare themselves for any untoward disaster, so that precious lives aren't lost mercilessly.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are his own and CitySpidey does not endorse them in anyway.
