When a structure is raised with the purpose of providing specialized service to the public, the practice is that it has to obtain No Objection Certificate from a number of Government agencies including the Fire and Emergency Services Department. Educational institutions from the primary schools to university, dispensaries, hospitals, cinema halls, auditoriums and places of public gathering all come under the purview of F&ES. The purpose of such certification is to ensure that the structure where a large number of people are coming together is safe for their entry and sitting. The F&ES has laid down certain norms that need to be met by every such institution.
Regrettably, it is found that most of the hospitals including the premier SMHS Hospital Srinagar do not have the fire safety measures in place. This is a big risk which an institute like SMHS Hospital should never take. Likewise, the same situation is witnessed in schools, colleges and the universities.
Kashmir is a cold region. Here houses and structures, private or public, all are made mostly in timber, which is a combustible commodity. Fires, particularly in winter are very common in the Valley and it takes a heavy toll more often than not. Though some change is visible showing that people want to depend less on the use of timber and are opting for bricks and concrete, yet the roofs, balconies, windows, doors and ceilings mostly have to be of timber. All these are prone to catching flames and turning into a massive fire. We have had tragedies in the past in which fatalities took place when huge fire broke out in a public building. Precautionary and anti- fire measures are a safety against such calamities. It is the responsibility of medical and educational authorities to approach the F&ES for providing safety measures and then issue NOC. There is hardly a hospital or an educational institution that has even applied for NOC and this is a practice against the established norms. F&ES authorities when approached have reported that they are not receiving any cooperation from the educational institutions or medical authorities.
Of course, in the early months of 2016, the F&ES Department had started to issue NOCs to schools in Kashmir after conducting fire safety audit. However the programme had to be stalled owing to non-cooperation by authorities. The total number of educational institutions in the school education sector in Kashmir division is of the order of 11633, consisting 2876 EGS centres, 5547 primary schools, 2379 middle schools, 525 high schools and 248 higher secondary schools. In addition, there are 2269 private schools out of which 1175 are primary schools, 810 middle schools, 247 high schools and 37 higher secondary schools. Only 10-20 percent of schools cooperated with F&ES. It is immensely risky to leave about 80 per cent of our educational institutions unprotected by safety measures against any tragic happening from an unexpected fire.
The Government has to react to this situation. A mechanism has to be evolved at the level of the Government to ensure that all public gathering places be it the hospitals, schools, universities, convention centres, community halls and other places must have safety measure in place and there should be periodic check to ensure that all safety measures are in place. All precautionary measures have to be taken in hand to provide maximum security to the people at large. At the same time, it is necessary to have a standing directive for all institutions of what preventive step shall have to be taken in the event of a fire engulfing the structure all of a sudden.
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