At least 250 hotels with fire safety “shortcomings” and “most” nursing homes are operating in complete violation of fire norms, according to the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), The Indian Express reported.
The deadly fire at Karol Bagh’s Hotel Arpit Palace that killed 17 people on Tuesday, 12 February, has raised questions about fire safety norms, clearances and regulations for commercial spaces in Delhi.
The report said that only 1,540 out of 2,050 hotels in New Delhi meet safety parameters. Applications of some of the other hotels are under consideration.
According to the records, that the number of medium-category fires in Delhi, like the one at the Karol Bagh hotel, was 16 in 2013, 7 in 2014, 11 in 2015, 20 in 2016 and 24 in 2017.
The last “major-category fire” in a hotel occurred in 1986 at the Sidhartha Hotel, in which 44 people had died.
Nursing Homes Violate Safety Norms
In the national capital, most nursing homes completely violate fire safety norms, the report said.
“Mostly, residential buildings are turned into nursing homes. Residential buildings need to have an exit width of one metre, while it is two metres in case of nursing homes.”Senior fire officer, as told to The Indian Express
The capital has just 61 fire stations to respond to disasters and Delhi’s fire department suffers from an acute shortage of staff, with 51% vacancy in fireman posts.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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