Maharashtra government may make glass doors, CCTVs compulsory in elevators

Mumbai: The Maharashtra government is considering to make it mandatory for all elevators in multi-storey building across Mumbai to have glass doors and CCTV cameras. The Opposition said that in the last few months, many cases have come to light of people getting stuck inside lifts, and asked whether these elevators were being inspected, in the wake of several posts of inspecting staff lying vacant.

PWD minister Chandrakant Patil, while replying to a query raised by Congress member Anant Gadgil during the Question Hour, said that out of the total 35,683 lifts installed in Mumbai, 32,493 have been inspected by his department till February this year. "Out of the total 32 posts for lift inspection engineers, 12 are vacant. Every three months, a chart is made of the total number of lifts inspected which we put on the (official) website. In most cases of lift failure, it is observed that the elevator stops due to power failure," Patil said.

He also said that as per the concerned laws framed in 2012, there are two rules to be compulsorily followed by lift manufacturers. Elaborating further, he said that as per the rules, there should be enough battery backup in lifts so that if power supply suddenly stops, it should be able to reach the nearest floor so that people can get out of it.

Secondly, there should be a mechanism wherein the lift should automatically start beeping, if it is carrying excess weight. "We will ensure that these rules are followed with regard to lifts. Besides, the state government is mulling to make installation of CCTVs and glass doors compulsory in all lifts," Patil informed the House.