Do dead firemen kin get jobs: Bombay High Court

Hearing a PIL on fire safety in the city, the Bombay high court on Friday asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation if it had a policy to offer jobs to families of firemen who die while serving on duty and also to the relatives of victims who loose their lives in fire incidents. The court has directed the BMC to draft a policy in this regard as soon as possible if such a policy wasn’t there already.

The division bench headed by Justice Abhay S. Oka has sought reply from the civic body whether the said policy is in existence or not while hearing a petition seeking fire safety audits in city buildings. The BMC is supposed to file its reply in June after the summer vacation is over.

On last date of hearing the BMC’s lawyer, while replying to a query by the court about steps taken by the civic body to comply with the norms, had informed that the municipal body had inspected nearly 6,000 buildings till now for fire safety. However, the court had asked the lawyer to furnish details on the manner of inspections done so far.

On the implementation of rules, the MCGM lawyer informed the court that the corporation had inspected nearly 3,895 structures in the city and 3,310 in the suburbs. He said 1,531 non-compliance notices were issued to buildings in city and 3,291 notices to buildings situated in suburbs. A total of 11 buildings have been prosecuted so far, he said.

Also, the court has asked civic body to give details about who was authorised to issue and sign fire audit certificates and whether the civic body was declaring the statutory warnings with regard to fire safety. The court had directed BMC to take appropriate steps to avoid fire incidents due to non-compliance of rules.

Social activist Sharmila Ghuge filed a petition alleging that the municipal corporation has failed to comply with the norms of Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act. According to petitioner, the incidents of fire have increased in the city. She also cited death of fire fighting officers during a major fire that broke out in Kalbadevi area of South Mumbai last year.