The 74-year-old rules governing lifts in the city may soon be a thing of the past. You can now look forward to easier and safer ‘escalation’ in buildings and public places.
The Delhi Government is bringing out a proposal on enactment of the Delhi lifts & Escalators Bill 2013, which mandates strict inspection, licensing and scrapping of lifts more than 20 years old. It also calls for installation of devices that prevent people from being trapped between floors — a nightmare for most. The Bill is expected to be tabled before the Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Although high-rises have proliferated over the past two decades in Delhi, the Capital still does not have a law of its own to regulate use of lifts, escalators and travelators increasingly used in places like Delhi Metro, hotels, malls, railway stations, foot overbridges and Government offices.
Delhi relies on the Raj-era Bombay lift Act, 1939, which has no provisions for escalators and does not empower the competent authority to penalise defaulters directly.
According to data, Delhi has just 10 lift inspectors to check around 30,000 licensed lifts and over 1,000 escalators. Not a single licence has ever been cancelled.
The Bill proposes an online system of registration for lifts, instead of the present licence. Officials will only inspect installed lifts and issue safety certificates for one to three years. At present, lift licences are renewed every year. The Bill minimises role of the inspector and ensures timely inspection.
It will also become mandatory for owners of lifts and escalators in public and commercial buildings to have third party insurance cover for users, besides the workmen and technicians involved. Failure to do so may be punished with three months’ jail or a fine of `1 lakh, or both. In the case of a continuing offence, the fine may go up to `5,000 per day.
For private residential buildings, penalty will be `10,000 for each offence. In case of continuing offence, an additional fine may entail a maximum of `500 per day.
“After 15 years from date of issue of initial certificate, every lift or escalator shall be inspected every year by the Inspector of lifts & Escalators, or by the competent authority,” the proposal notes.
Subsequently, it will be the owner’s responsibility to get his lift inspected periodically and submit safety certificates.
The Bill also recommends criminal prosecution of lift owners in case of accidents caused by malfunctioning of safety mechanisms. Mandatory automatic rescue devices will power the lift to the nearest floor, in case of power cuts and technical faults. Owners will also have to make arrangements for alternative power supply in buildings higher than 15 metres.
The Bill will maintain standards of experience of firms dealing with the manufacturing, installation and maintenance of lifts and escalators. There are provisions for registration of firms, agencies, companies or individual having qualified staff and requisite infrastructure tools as contractors.
EOM