Gurugram district administration centre has no NOC, firefighting tools past expiry date - Hindustan Times
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Gurugram district administration centre has no NOC, firefighting tools past expiry date

Hindustan Times, Gurugram | ByNikhil M Babu, Gurugram
Feb 18, 2019 02:23 PM IST

According to the fire department records accessed by HT, the Mini Secretariat has a daily footfall of nearly 3,000 people, and houses offices of multiple departments.

Gurugram’s Mini Secretariat was opened in 2004 as the district’s administrative nerve centre, but without a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department. Fifteen years on, the district administration is yet to apply for an NOC, or equip itself appropriately to fight a blaze, as Team HT found out during a spot check on Friday.

An expired fire extinguisher cylinder seen on the 4th floor of Mini Secretariat, in Gurugram, on Friday, February 15, 2019. At least 20 fire extinguishers in building are past their refill date by two months.(Parveen Kumar / HT Photo)
An expired fire extinguisher cylinder seen on the 4th floor of Mini Secretariat, in Gurugram, on Friday, February 15, 2019. At least 20 fire extinguishers in building are past their refill date by two months.(Parveen Kumar / HT Photo)

It must be noted that under the Haryana Fire Service Act, 2009, before constructing any residential or commercial building taller than 15 metres, it is mandatory to obtain a fire NOC conforming to the National Building Code of India, the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Factories Act, 1948 and the Punjab Factory Rules, 1952. The six-storey Mini Secretariat is higher than 15 metres.

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According to the fire department records accessed by HT, the Mini Secretariat has a daily footfall of nearly 3,000 people, and houses offices of multiple departments. The building houses offices of the Gurugram deputy commissioner, subdivisional magistrates, the departments of revenue, labour, transport and education. Senior police officers, including the deputy commissioner of police (crime), also have their offices in this building.

District assistant divisional fire officer IS Kashyap said he had apprised the city magistrate that the Mini Secretariat does not have a fire NOC.

“I can’t send a notice or file a court case against the deputy commissioner (DC) because the building does not have a fire NOC. I do not have the power to do that,” Kashyap said.

Read | One of Gurugram’s most congested markets ill-prepared to fight fire

During its visit to the Mini Secretariat, HT found that though the building has large and open exits and entrances and fire safety diagrams, it does not have a sprinkler system or sand buckets and the at least 20 fire extinguishers in the corridors were past their refill date by two months (the date of refilling being December 4, 2018).

Stating that the district administration had made efforts to get the fire extinguishers refilled, a senior district administration officer said, “We had written to the fire department about three months ago asking them to attend to the equipment, but they never got back to us.”

Kashyap accepted that the district administration did get in touch with them with such a request, but said, “It is not our job to refill the extinguishers and we had told them so.”

During the spot check, HT also found that there were fire hoses (a broad hosepipe connected to a water supply pipleline, used in extinguishing fire) on each floor, but in many cases the hose was damaged and, in some cases, missing or hard to access as the recess in the wall, in which it was kept, was blocked.

For instance, on the fifth floor, when you open the glass door to the fire hose, the recess is filled with stacks of clothes and files, and a broom, among other materials, obstructing access. Also, the hose is damaged and there are cobwebs on the hose reel.

On the terrace, the pipes leading to the hose have become rusty and the hose is missing from one of the reels. In another place, the spool has come off.

Kashyap said that the fire department officials have visited the building multiple times and found shortcomings in the firefighting equipment and measures. “We had given two to three audit reports to the district administration about the short comings, but they are yet to revert,” he said.

“I’m not aware about the issue of the NOC, but we will look into it,” subdivisional magistrate Sanjeev Singla, who has his office in the Mini Secretariat, said.

The city magistrate did not respond to multiple calls and messages by HT.

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