In a startling revelation Director General (DG) of Fire Services Binoy Kumar Behera on Friday said his department is not empowered to enforce the laws governing the fire safety measures in high rise buildings, including hospitals and hotels.
Briefing reporters here after meeting top officials of the fire department from across the State in the wake of Monday’s fire tragedy at the SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar, the top cop said fire safety certificate is mandatory for all Government and private hospitals.
“But due to lack of coordination between the authorities (DMET), which issues licences to the hospitals and the fire department, we still do not have a list of how many hospitals in the State are functioning without the mandatory fire safety certificate,” he said.
He said his department had repeatedly informed the appropriate agencies about the violators of fire safety norms. “We can only complain but cannot file an FIR until a cognisable offence is made,” Behera said, adding that his department had appropriately filed an FIR in connection with the erring Bhubaneswar hospital in which at least 25 patients have died so far.
He further informed that his office has recently received about 271 applications for issuance of NOC. “But we had to refer back at least 244 of those applications for inefficient fire safety measures,” Behera informed.
He too stated the SUM authorities informed the fire tender after 40 to 45 minute of the fire broke out.
“Some lives could have been saved if the SUM Hospital authorities had intimated about the fire immediately,” said Behera.