A ticking time bomb

Sowmya Raju | NT

Bengaluru: Fire safety regulations are essential for ensuring the safety of residents and occupants of any building, especially PGs and residential buildings.

However, in Bengaluru, there is a complete lack of fire regulations in these types of buildings. This is a major cause for concern, as it poses a serious risk to the lives of millions of people.

One of the main reasons for the lack of fire regulations is that house owners, landlords, and PG owners are completely clueless about the fact that they exist. Many of them are not even aware of the basic fire safety measures that they need to take.

This is evident from the recent fire accidents in the city, such as the fire in the BBMP office, the Mudpipe cafe and the Agarbatti factory on Pipeline Road, Vijayanagar.

Completely clueless

In all of these cases, the fires could have been prevented if the owners had taken basic fire safety measures, such as installing fire extinguishers and sprinklers, and ensuring that the buildings had adequate fire escapes.

However, they failed to do so, and as a result, many people were injured and some even lost their lives.

Over 100 PGs are located in the BTM Layout second stage, and most of these PGs have no fire regulations. While the PG owners were able to talk for ages about their amenities such as furnished rooms, bathrooms, Wi-Fi, TVs, Laundry, ACs, Fridges, RO water, food on demand, heaters, and so on, they went speechless when questioned about the fire safety regulations.

One PG owner pointed at an old rusted red bucket filled with plastic wrappers as his fire safety measure. The BBMP has established fire safety regulations for PGs and residential buildings in Bengaluru to enhance safety.

These rules mandate fire safety certificates, proper exits, fire equipment, safety plans, and regular drills to reduce the risk of fire accidents and protect residents' lives.

Alleged eyewash

In addition to these regulations, the BBMP should conduct regular inspections of PGs and residential buildings to ensure that they are complying with fire safety regulations.

But the BBMP has been lagging in taking these measures and conducting raids. The BBMP did fire safety inspections after the tragic gas explosion at a cafe in the city and a staff member was forced to jump off a fourth-floor window to save himself.

Several netizens have shared their frustration on social media stating, “Why is the BBMP waiting to take action after the accident has happened? Isn't the duty of the BBMP to avoid the accident?”

Some even allege that the recent BBMP raid is just an eyewash for the public’s eye. Many PG accommodations are highly congested. A PG resident, sharing a room with two others, expressed concerns, "There are nearly 150 people in this place. If a fire breaks out, the likelihood of me getting hurt in a stampede is higher than being harmed by the fire itself."

His friend chimed in, "It took us months to find a spot in the city, and we can't be overly selective,” he said implying that expecting fire safety gulations is a luxury.