Kolkata: State Fire and Emergency Services minister Sujit Bose has instructed his department officials to make people understand that adoption of some basic preventive measures to avert a major fire.
"During our fire audit exercise we have come across shopping malls, multiplexes, highrises where basic fire fighting equipment like sprinklers, automatic fire alarm etc have been lying defunct. We have made them aware how negligence in the maintenance of these instruments can lead to a major disaster. We have seen in follow up visits that many of them have rectified themselves. Our intention should be not to instil any sort of fear among such establishments but create awareness among them about the necessity in putting basic fire fighting mechanisms in order," said Bose addressing the 14th edition of "Safety Exhibition and Symposium" organised by CII in virtual mode.
Speaking about modernisation, Bose said that his department is in the process of introducing drones for precisely locating the origin of fire in case of high rise buildings from a distance. " The Kolkata Police has been using drones in a number of operations. We have already introduced four robots that are capable of dousing fires in places where human intervention is difficult. We have initiated the process of including drones in our fleet," added Bose.
He informed the industry members that the state government has reduced fire license fees considerably for ease of doing business. The department now fixes rates on the basis of square metre space instead of charging on square feet.