Panels to check Kolkata fire safety, violators on notice
December 10th, 2011 - 10:25 pm ICT by IANS
Kolkata, Dec 10 (IANS) The West Bengal government, which has set up two panels to check safety measures in city buildings in the wake of a devastating fire in a hospital which claimed 91 lives, will be issuing notices to those flouting the safety norms, a minister said Saturday.
“We have already made a survey and found some buildings to have flouted the fire safety norms. We will continue the checks after the weekend and whichever building is found violating the fire safety measures will be given due notices,” Fire and Emergency Services Minister Javed Khan told IANS.
Khan did not reveal the names of the buildings, citing unavailability of details.
“A five-member team headed by D.P. Biswas, the additional director-general (ADG) of the fire department, has been already constituted. Another team also would be formed that will undertake a round-the-week checks of fire safety measures in various educational institutions, hospitals, shops and malls in the city,” Khan said after announcing the constitution of the panel.
The committees, after completing the survey, will submit a weekly report to the principal secretary, which then will be forwarded to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She will decide the future course of action based on the reports.
In the worst fire tragedy in any hospital in India, 91 patients and staffers were killed in city’s well-known AMRI Hospital when a blaze started in the basement of the annexe building early Friday and quickly spread, trapping hundreds of people.
The pre-dawn blaze caught many in their sleep. While most nurses, doctors and other staffers were able to get away, many critically ill patients died in their hospital beds.
A high-level probe team has been also formed under Joint Commissioner of Police Damayanti Sen to look into the tragedy.
Sen earlier said that the fire department had found AMRI Hospital’s safety systems inadequate and had instructed the hospital authorities to upgrade these in July this year.
- Hospital fire: Kolkatans protest, Mamata orders judicial probe - Dec 11, 2011
- Mamata announces judicial probe in hospital fire tragedy - Dec 10, 2011
- 'No emission hazard from AMRI radiotherapy instruments' (Lead) - Dec 12, 2011
- Bengal hospitals to have fire safety officers - Dec 28, 2011
- Week after AMRI fire, anger still not doused - Dec 16, 2011
- Government teams inspect fire-hit Bengal hospital - Dec 12, 2011
- Inflammatory objects in AMRI basement made fire deadly: Minister - Dec 13, 2011
- 20 months on, Stephen Court remains a black hole - Dec 12, 2011
- Toll now 91, including two nurses, says AMRI - Dec 10, 2011
- Twitteratti, Facebookers pour anger over hospital blaze - Dec 10, 2011
- Smoke from AMRI Hospital triggers panic - Dec 29, 2011
- Left Front demands high-level probe into hospital fire - Dec 10, 2011
- AMRI flouted affidavit promising to clear basesment: Minister - Dec 12, 2011
- Pranab expresses condolence to AMRI victims - Dec 10, 2011
- Tripura, Mizoram may depanel AMRI Hospital - Dec 11, 2011
Tags: banerjee, chief minister, city buildings, commissioner of police, educational institutions, fire and emergency services, fire safety measures, fire tragedy, flouting, hospital authorities, hospital beds, ill patients, javed khan, level probe, member team, pre dawn, principal secretary, probe team, safety systems, west bengal government