Rain or fire, city is doomed

Rain or fire, city is doomed
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The general attitude of planners and civic agencies of Bangalore seems to be that natural disasters are something that happens elsewhere. Unfortunately, the complacency has seeped into the members of the public too.

This is despite the trauma the city goes through whenever it rains. The possible and larger misfortunes like earthquake and fire hazards are virtually out of the planning radar.

As the repair work on over 6,000 km of storm water drains are yet to show any progress, even a mild rain creates a disaster. And, the existing drains continue to be clogged due to dumping of garbage in them.

‘‘Used mattresses, debris, plastic and kitchen waste - all end up in storm water drains,’’ points out Venkateshmurthy, a resident of Kalasipalyam.

Though the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) is taking up door-to-door collection of garbage, any lapse leads the waste to the drain.

‘‘Though an effective solid waste management system can eliminate clogging of drains, it will take an year to become a reality,’’ said sources in the BCC.

Another critical component of disaster management is fire safety in high-rise buildings, which also lies in neglect. Even, Public Utility Building does not have adequate fire safety systems.

‘‘What is alarming is that the building does not even have a fire exit stairway. The only stairway it has is too narrow, which makes it risky during an emergency,’’ said K Prasanna, an engineering consultant.

The situation is not any better in most high-rise buildings. ‘‘Apartments and commercial complexes need to install fire safety measures while obtaining a no-objection certificate from authorities”.

“And the safety monitoring goes haphazard once the NOC is obtained,’’ said sources in the Fire Department.

And there is no proper mechanism in place to monitor the fire safety measures in buildings on a continuous basis. The monitoring of fire safety measures has to be made mandatory, so that the builders will take them more seriously and stick to the norms.