Hyderabad: Overbridges lack fire safety norms

Hyderabad: Lack of fire safety precautions at FOBs being constructed in the city puts the pedestrians at risk. With several FOBs with elevators coming up, it is imperative to have fire safety norms in place. A quick check at the existing FOBs at Malaysian township or Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology in Banjara Hills and at Malaysian township, KPHB, there were not even fire extinguishers visible to the naked eye. In April, there was reportedly a short circuit at escalator at L. V. Prasad eye hospital FOB. At the time of the incident, there were no people on the escalator, and so an accident was averted.

The corporation officials said that there are no fire safety norms in place for foot overbridge. The GHMC projects team handles only the construction of foot overbridge, while the maintenance is handed over to the contractor, presided over by the advertising wing. 

The FOBs are being built in the public-private partnership mode so the onus lies on the contractor to take care of precautions that will ensure it, said a GHMC official. Another GHMC official confirmed that there are currently no precautions but will look into it.

Consequently, not many private agencies are coming forward to execute the project. It may be mentioned here that the state government had directed the HMDA to build 14 of the proposed 44 FOBs with its own funds and finance GHMC to build the remaining 30.