Hyderabad: ‘No ventilation’ is one of the prime reasons that led to the deaths of the six workers who were burnt at the Attapur air cooler factory. The GHMC’s trade licence clearly states that all businesses must have ventilation in their kitchen and at the worksite.
This is one of the main provisions in the sanitary norms for eateries too. But there are hundreds of workshops and even hotels that have no ventilation facilities for workers.
The GHMC authorities were quick to point out that it was an illegal air cooler manufacturing unit, and that it was not registered with the corporation. So no inspections were carried out.
GHMC fire officer Krishna Kumar said, “Industries, while applying for building permission, must show provision for ventilation in the blueprint. Unless this is provided permission will not be granted. It is the town planning department that has to keep an eye on it. Ventilation is a necessity for fire fighting operations. The ability to remove smoke, heat and fire by-products from a structure can greatly help victims. However, improper ventilation or proper ventilation delivered at an inappropriate time can greatly increase the amount of effort required to control fires by spreading it and increasing heat, and can injure or kill fire fighters.”
Windows and other openings will allow natural ventilation, while active ventilation forces or allows the removal of heat, smoke and gases from a structure and replaces it with fresh air.
There are hundreds of hotels, institutions, clinics and commercial shops that violate the trade licence provision of proper ventilation. Due to lack of inspection many escape punishment. The violation surfaces only when an incident occurs.
Most fire stations don’t have borewells, sumps
During this summer there are chances of fires increasing due to electrical short circuits, gas explosions, garbage burning etc. But the city's fire stations are not geared up for it as many fire stations in the city don't have water storage sumps.
There are 17 fire stations in the city, but most of them don't have a bore well or a sump to store water. An amount of Rs 23 crore was sanctioned to the fire department as per the 13th finance commission report for construction of sumps and bore wells
"The first sump was planned at Malakpet fire station, but that was left incomplete due to lack of funds," said an official on condition of anonymity. He added, “The contractor who started construction of the sump said that he spent Rs 8 crore on the project. As funds ran out he left midway. Now, the sump remains half completed since 18 months.”
“If any fire call comes, we have to collect water from the Aasmangarh water filter as HMWS&SB provides us free water. But this summer we will face difficulties as tankers will queue up for water. In worst case scenarios we collect water from Balapur, that is, if water is not provided from Aasmangarh,” said another official.
"However, this is not the case with Malakpet fire station alone. Almost every other station face the problem. The amount of money and time wasted by fire tenders to collect water by making multiple trips to water stations is huge. If sumps are provided for all stations this can be avoided," noted one official.
When contacted regional fire officer V. Papaiah said the works are looked after by the Police Housing Corporation, and that they would be completing it soon.
