India’s fire safety complacency
A devastating fire at a popular Arpora nightclub claimed at least 25 lives in Goa. Yet another fire incident has been added to the already long list of such disasters in the country. As tragic as the Goa nightclub fire is, it is not an aberration. It is a symptom of a deeper, systemic failure India has refused to confront for far too long. What makes the Goa tragedy especially tragic is that it was avoidable had a little attention been paid to fire safety. Every fire incident gives clues about how to avoid it, yet nothing is done, no lessons learnt, no action taken. Fires in public places have been happening year after year in the country — at the Uphaar cinema in 1997, the AMRI hospital in 2011, the Surat coaching centre in 2019, and countless other similar incidents. These incidents should have been enough to wake the authorities from their deep slumber and act to implement the elaborate fire safety measures mandated by law, but that, unfortunately never happens and after sometime yet another tragedy adds to the long list.
How seriously we take fire safety is visible in any government building — fire buckets used as spittoons, non-functional fire alarms, fire exits used for storing trash, and fire extinguishers missing from their slots. Besides, no one has any idea how to deal with a fire emergency, as fire drills take place only on paper. Moreover, congestion and encroachments on streets make it literally impossible for fire tenders to reach the spot. Electrical short circuits, the major cause of concern, are only waiting to happen when wiring is loosely hanging and often bearing more load than it is designed to handle.
The Goa fire is a reminder that this complacency has a deadly cost. Preliminary investigations already hint at familiar and troubling lapses: overcrowding, blocked exits, non-functional fire alarms, inadequate staff training, and possibly an electrical malfunction. These are recurring patterns repeated across public and private spaces. Our chronic disregard for fire safety norms has made preventable deaths almost routine.
In the past each of these disasters triggered outrage, promises of reform, and inquiries that did not bring about any change in the mindset. Fire safety remains the last priority.
The nightclub fire once again reveals the gap between rules on paper and enforcement in practice. India’s fire codes are not the problem; lax compliance is. Safety certificates are treated as bureaucratic stamps rather than life-and-death mandates. Inspections are irregular, penalties are too light, and loopholes are plentiful. What India desperately needs is not more laws, but the will to implement existing fire safety policies in letter and spirit. That requires making safety audits mandatory and non-negotiable, introducing criminal liability for negligence, strengthening fire departments, and empowering authorities to shut down violators. Technology — such as smart sensors, automated alarms, and digital compliance tracking — must also be integrated into fire prevention systems. Equally important is public awareness. The loss of 25 lives in Goa should serve as a collective reckoning. If we cannot learn from this disaster, then we are condemned to repeat it at the cost of innocent lives.
