Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) new civic centre with state-of-the-art facilities was inaugurated Thursday without the 28-storey building having the fire department’s clearance. MCD officials said the building was safe and the clearance would be received soon.
The Doctor Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre was inaugurated by Home Minister P.Chidambaram. However, the MCD cannot shift into the premises unless it gets a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), which has found that the building does not comply with required safety procedures.

“We have found some shortcomings in the complex. If these are cleared by the authorities concerned, we will be issuing the NOC,” DFS chief R.C. Sharma told IANS.

He said that an NOC is issued to any building in two days. “First day, the building will be thoroughly inspected and the next day, we verify the safety measures of the complex and issue the NOC,” he added.

The MCD plans to shift into its new headquarters soon from its present Town Hall office in Chandni Chowk. The Town Hall was built 1864-66 soon after the British colonial forces crushed the 1857 First War of Independence and captured Delhi.

According to Mayor Kanwar Sain, the MCD will shift to the new civic centre in the next two weeks.

MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur told IANS that the clearance from the fire department was a mere formality.

“We are yet to receive an NOC from the fire department. But we are sure that the new complex has one of the most modern fire detection facility, which is not found in any other building in Delhi. All the fire fighting materials, like fire extinguishers, are readily available in the building premises,” he said.

“Lifts in the premises has received NOC from the Delhi Fire Services. We hope that fire department would issue the NOC shortly,” he added.