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Bengal

Fire audit conducted at 644 multi-storey buildings in city

Kolkata: A fire audit has been conducted at 644 multi-storey buildings and places across the city and more buildings will soon be covered to check the incidents of fire, said state Fire minister Sujit Bose.

While answering a question, Bose recently said in the Assembly that his department has been undertaking all preventive measures to curb incidents of fire in the state. To ensure that all the buildings adhere to the fire safety norms, particularly the high-rise ones, the Fire department has initiated the audit. Many more buildings have been identified, where fire audit would be undertaken soon, the minister said.

Fire audits have been initiated in marketplaces as well, which are vulnerable to incidents of fire. It has been found during investigation that the buildings which catch fire, lack fire safety mechanisms. It may be recalled that the city has recently witnessed a number of fire incidents in various places.

The Fire minister also said that Rs 104.44 crore was spent in the last financial year for modernisation and buying new equipments. Around 11 new ladders have been procured at Rs 11 crore and Rs 35 crore was spent for buying new equipments. Many fire stations have been constructed in different places.

It may be mentioned here that the city's Mayor Firhad Hakim had earlier requested Bose to complete the fire audit of the markets across the city soon, to crack the whip on those market authorities who are not following the guidelines of the fire brigade. Hakim also proposed certain rules and regulations after discussing with the fire brigade.

Fire audit is necessary in marketplaces and multi-storeyed buildings because the firefighters often face problems while dousing the flames due to the hoardings and glow-signboards which remain fixed on the buildings. As a result of this, the firefighters have to pull down the hoardings to spray water.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials also held meetings with the Fire department to impose some restrictions on hawkers who put up their stalls in marketplaces.

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