Building inspection for fire safety certificates begins in Delhi

NEW DELHI: With a decline in daily COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Fire Services has resumed the inspection of buildings for issuing or renewing fire safety certificates after a gap of nearly two months as the process of unlocking began, officials said on Tuesday.

According to the order issued on June 5, in pursuant to the directions issued by the chief secretary, Delhi government, the inspections of the buildings for issue or renew of fire safety certificates shall be resumed with immediate effect.

“We have resumed the inspection of buildings for issuing or renewing fire safety certificates since Monday now that government has allowed offices to reopen. Also COVID-19 cases have declined and we have been receiving requests from people for inspection. So, we have resumed it,” said Atul Garg, Director of Delhi Fire Services.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Saturday announced various relaxations in the ongoing lockdown that was imposed on April 19, saying Covid situation was improving and the economy of the city needed to be revived.

The national capital reported 231 new instances of the COVID-19 infection, the lowest since March 2, with the positivity rate dipping to 0.36 per cent, according to the health bulletin released on Monday.

Thirty-six more people succumbed to the disease in a day, pushing the death toll here to 24,627.

The Delhi Fire Services had in April suspended the inspection of buildings for issuing or renewing fire safety certificates till further orders due to rising COVID-19 cases in the city.

However, inspections on special or specific directions of the government or disaster management authorities shall continue, it had stated in the order issued on April 19.

The national capital last year witnessed some major fire incidents which claimed many lives.

On December 8, 2019, 45 people were killed when a massive fire ripped through a four-storey building housing illegal manufacturing units in north Delhi’s congested Anaj Mandi area. Almost all the deceased were migrant labourers hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

On February 12, 2019, a major fire engulfed a hotel in central Delhi’s congested Karol Bagh area, killing 17 people, including two who jumped off the building in a desperate bid to save themselves. The deceased included three Myanmar nationals, an IRS officer and two staffers of the hotel.