May 30, 2024
NEW DELHI – Twin fire tragedies in the north and west of India, which left 34 newborn babies, children and adults dead, have laid bare lax attitudes towards fire safety rules in the country, say experts.
On the evening of May 25, in capital city New Delhi, seven newborn babies – with the oldest a mere 25 days old – were killed after a fire spread through Baby Care New Born Hospital. The hospital, which was set up in 2017, is in the middle of a heavily congested residential area.
Five babies were rescued and are in intensive care.
Just a couple of hours earlier on the same day, some 1,199km away in Rajkot, in the western state of Gujarat, 27 people – including children – were killed after being trapped in a fire at a multi-level gaming arcade.
Among the victims was the co-owner of the gaming arcade. His body, burnt beyond recognition like many other victims, was identified after DNA testing.
The fires, said Assistant Professor Anuj Daga at the School of Environment and Architecture in Mumbai, underscored how India had strict safety rules but lax implementation.
“The regulatory environment has, on the one hand, created a very strict checklist” – except that once the authorities come and grant permission, there are few checks after, he highlighted.
“Often, in a lot of cases, these (buildings) are not really seen again (by the authorities).”
India has no lack of fire safety regulations and rules. The National Building Code states that all exits have to be marked and recommends the use of fire alarm systems, automatic fire detection systems and sprinklers, and water sprays and fireman lifts for multi-storey buildings.
But preliminary investigations have thrown up a slew of safety violations at both the gaming arcade and the hospital.
At the hospital, a crucial licence from the Director-General of Health Services to operate the premises had expired in March 2024.
Neighbours had often complained to the local authorities that the hospital was not following safe practices and that oxygen cylinders were being stored haphazardly.
Investigators believe the fire was sparked by a fault in electrical wiring, with the oxygen cylinders acting as fire accelerants.
Exploding cylinders forced firefighters to enter through windows as there was only one entry and exit point, a safety violation in itself. And the hospital reportedly had no fire extinguishers, Indian media reports said.
Meanwhile, the gaming centre had been operating without a structural stability certificate or a no-objection certificate – which attests that a building is not a fire hazard – from the fire department since it opened in 2021.
Experts said these certificates should have been in place even before the arcade started operations.
Indian media reports said that large amounts of petrol and diesel were stored in the arcade even as welding work was ongoing during gaming hours, leading to the fire spreading out of control. Investigators suspect sparks from the welding work triggered the fire.
The Gujarat High Court, which called the blaze at the gaming centre a “man-made disaster”, said that it was inconceivable that the municipal authorities did not know of these lapses.
Experts said investigations are needed to uncover if exit and entry signs were prominent, and whether an evacuation plan was in place.
Mr R.C. Sharma, former director of the Delhi Fire Service, sees inconsistencies, where rules “are implemented and somewhere (else) they are not”.
“The problem is that we tend to see these incidents in isolation. If it is happening in a hospital, then hospitals come under scrutiny. Whatever the situation, there is a casual approach (towards fire safety regulations) by all of us – the government, people and municipal authorities,” he said.
“Are exits available or are they blocked? We are not asking these things because we are not attuned to that kind of safety culture,” he added.
What is needed is an overhaul of the system of handing out approvals and licences, said Mrs Neelam Krishnamoorthy, who lost her two teenage children in a fire at Uphaar cinema hall in Delhi on June 13, 1997.
Fifty-eight moviegoers lost their lives in that incident, which investigations revealed was due to additional exits being locked and passageways blocked.
She said that the system was riddled with corruption, with blame being shifted from one agency to another in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Mrs Krishnamoorthy, who, along with her husband, has dedicated her life to increasing awareness about fire safety in India, said there is an urgent need to have a single agency “which issues licences, in every department. So there is no passing the buck”.
Under the present system, approval and licences are given by multiple agencies, ranging from the fire department to the municipal corporation.
The usual fallback in India when a tragedy occurs is the transfer of local officials to mute public criticism.
In Rajkot, top bureaucrats like the police commissioner and the local municipal commissioner were shunted out on May 27, two days after the gaming arcade fire.
But experts said this is not a solution. They also stressed the importance of deterrence, with the guilty receiving strict and speedy punishment.
Five people – including the owners, partners and those in charge at the hospital and the gaming arcade – have been arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Ms Sathvika Gupta, an occupational health and environmental safety officer, said more fire safety awareness is a must.
“In our country, including in metro cities, how many people are aware about safety? How many people know about the different kinds of fires? Not many,” she said.
She added that safety rules should be part of the school curriculum in different national and regional languages.
Mrs Krishnamoorthy, however, said that there just was not enough outrage over the fires, and this needed to change.
“Have you ever seen public outrage over a fire incident? People don’t demand safety, thinking ‘it won’t happen to us’, without realising that each one of us is a potential victim of fire. We need to demand fire safety,” she said.