Telangana: Inspections on hold for 5 months due to pandemic

HYDERABAD: Owing to the pandemic, the state disaster response and fire services had to stop inspections of high-rise buildings, including hospitals, to check if managements were adhering to fire safety norms. Current regulations mandate commercial buildings over 15 metres in height to obtain clearances under the Telangana Fire Service Act, 1999. Since 2017, the department had been conducting surprise inspections of such buildings.
“Officials are randomly selected to conduct surprise inspections of high-rise buildings.It is the same for hospitals. Management and owners are served notices if any violations are found. However, for the past five months, no inspections have been conducted,” said fire services additional director, Lakshmi Prasad.

“Every month, some 50 surprise inspections are conducted across the state. During these inspections at least five to six buildings are found violating fire safety norms. Currently, due to the pandemic, the inspection process has been put on hold. However, the department is planning to start inspecting the hospitals soon,” said a source from the department.
Among the most common violations are hospital managements adding extra floors after obtaining NOC or misusing the cellar.
“They also tend to keep pumps supplying water to the sprinkler system switched off when they are supposed to be on at all times. In some instances, the hospitals are also seen misusing the open spaces such as the basement or cellars for their physiotherapy or pathology centres. But that space should be used only as a parking area, and as an assembly point and escape route in case of fire,” said regional fire officer, V Papaiah.
Papaiah added that it is important for hospitals to leave a few metres of space empty to make way for fire engines and rescue operations in case of an emergency. “But most hospitals are seen using that empty space as a storage room or canteen. We have also noticed that after obtaining NOCs, some hospitals fail to maintain fire safety equipment. However, we have also observed that in the past couple of years, several hospitals rectifying the issues within a given time,” he said.