Taking lessons from recent Karol Bagh fire incident in which 17 people lost their lives, Delhi Government in its inter-department meeting approved ten amendments in building by-laws-2016 for enhancing fire safety under which special directives have given regarding the use of rooftop, basements, passages and exit routes for curtailing the spread fire in public buildings.
From now onwards, all existing and future guest houses must install carbon monoxide smoke alarms, fire doors on each floor and remove all kinds of combustible materials from passages, exit routes and rooftops.
Chairing the meeting, Delhi Home minister Satyendar Jain said, "We have to strictly ensure that no one dies of fire mishaps in the city". Our government will follow a policy of zero tolerance against those playing with the lives of people.
As per the new laws, no kitchen will be allowed on rooftops or basements and no cooking activity of any kind will be permitted on rooftop or basement.
It was also decided that storage of inflammable material will not be allowed on the rooftops. "No temporary roofing over the roof or terrace using FRP or any inflammable material will be allowed. Inflammable materials of construction will not be used in passage, corridors or staircases like wooden paneling, foam paneling, carpet etc. Gas Bank, if any will be installed conforming to the standards prescribed in the National Building Code (NBC)," quoted Delhi government's official statement.
With new laws, fire No Objection Certificate (NoC) for Guest-house will not be issued to those buildings, which have more than four floors (excluding basement and stilt floor).
"Owner, Director or Partner will submit three signed hard copies along with one softcopy in PDF format of all the floor plans indicating the floor-wise use while submitting the application to the Fire Department for NOC," Government said in a statement.
It may recalled that, On February 12 , a deadly fire broke out in the early morning at Hotel Arpit Palace Karol Bagh, leading to the death of 17 people and injuring three others.
During the initial investigation, it was found that many of the building regulations were not followed which could have reduced the impact of the horrendous incident.
The Delhi government further decided to amend the existing Delhi Building Bye Laws 2016 to to prevent the recurrence of such ghastly fire incidents.