Big malls in the city do not have valid fire safety licenses
Posted on: 08/Nov/2015 12:58:25 PM
An RTI application has brought to light the safety measures taken by malls in the city. It has shown that out of the 8 prominent malls in Chennai, 4 do not have a fire safety license. Malls like Spencers and Abhirami Mall had accidental fires in the recent past. But, they have not renewed their fire safety license for 3 years. Skywalk Ampa Mall has not renewed the license for 2 years and Phoenix Mall has not renewed it this year. Since 2009, there have been 10 fires in malls across the city.
A fire safety official said, (We) don`t have enforcement powers so they are unable to take action against violators. We have rejected application for licences from Spencers, Phoenix Mall, Skywalk and Abirami Mall because they failed to follow fire safety norms. Skywalk and Abirami malls approached the court and the case is pending... But we don`t have power to either legally prosecute or impose fines on violators. We can only inform statutory bodies like Corporation of Chennai and CMDA for them to take action... (We have) been pushing the government for amendments in the Fire Safety Act to allow them to impose strict punishment and fines on violators. The government should give the firefighting agency the power to crack down on violators. This causes delay; it will endanger the safety of public. At least, TNFRS should be empowered to seal the establishment of violators... Short circuit is the main cause of fires in malls. Most of these high-rise buildings compromise on the quality of wires and junction boxes. This lackadaisical attitude puts the lives of thousands of people in danger.
Mall owners cite lack of transparency as the reason. The department does not give us a licence even if we follow all the norms, they say.
