Chandigarh, January 6
A delegation of the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal (CBM) today called on Gurinder Singh Sodhi, Joint Commissioner-cum-Chief Fire Officer, to appraise him of the difficulty being faced by shopkeepers running business from buildings as old as 50-60 years in meeting the “non-feasible” fire norms laid down by the MC.
The Fire and Rescue Services wing of the Municipal Corporation had issued notices to shopkeepers asking them to install firefighting systems in markets.
Charanjiv Singh, president, CBM, and former councillor, who led the delegation, said the norms fixed by the MC for the installation of firefighting equipment in these old buildings were not feasible. He appealed to the Joint Commissioner to come up with viable norms with easy-to-install fire gadgets and stop sending notices to market associations.
Diwakar Sahoonja, patron, CBM, said with the proposed 24×7 water supply with a good pressure, there would be no need for overhead water tanks. Moreover, these old buildings were not strong enough to sustain that much load.
Parshotam Mahajan, patron of the CBM, told the officer that since most commercial buildings had more than one old tenants, such changes and installation of gadgets were not possible.
Sanjeev Chadha, general secretary, CBM, said instead of suggesting so many “non-feasible” changes, the corporation must come out with a practical solution so that public safety was ensured and there was no big financial burden on the shopkeepers.
Ajay Bansal, representing the Sector 11 Market, said such notices be issued only for new buildings, whereas, for the old ones, fire alarms and extinguishers were more than enough.
The Joint Commissioner assured the delegation to take up the traders’ viewpoint with the MC Commissioner and other higher authorities to resolve the issue.
