Take any road through the city and
it is a common sight to see Amdavadis crowding cracker shops, be it permanent
ones or makeshift larris. Overnight, hundreds of these shops have cropped up
but only 22 vendors have received temporary licence to sell crackers in the
city. The others blatantly violate fire safety regulations, turning the usually
residential area they are set up in into a ticking bomb.
There has been a 50 per cent drop
in procurement of temporary licence to sell crackers compared to last year.
Yet, the number of cracker vendors is on the rise.
According to Explosives Rule 2008,
fire cracker vendors who set up temporary stalls need to procure temporary
licence. They can procure the licence on following certain conditions: sheds
will not have flammable material; there should be a space of 3 m between
possession and sale of fireworks; electric lights should be fixed to the wall;
and switches of each shop will be fixed to the wall and in one cluster. Also,
not more than 50 shops will be permitted to operate in an area. Temporary sheds
are not permitted in open space that is the only fallback area for residential
or commercial areas in case of an emergency. Temporary sheds should not be
close to busy market. Their location should not affect traffic or movement of
emergency vehicles.
LICENCE PROCESS
The police website states that an
applicant needs to submit an application and documentary evidence like site
plan, photographs and proof of ownership to the licence department of a police
station.
Inspector N S Chaudhari from the
licence department said, “The documents and application is sent to the DCP.
Following his approval, the application is sent to the fire department.After
they inspect the spot and issue an NOC, the licence department provides a
temporary licence in 7-10 days. The licence is valid only for a month.“
He added, “For the first time,
this year, the fire department has provided NOCs only to those vendors who have
installed automatic water sprinklers.If the temperature goes beyond 55°C, a
knob on the machine will melt to release water.“
However, Mirror's visit to shops
in Manav Mandir, Dilli Darwaza, S G Highway and Bodakdev revealed that many of
them flouted fire safety rules. Vendors have used flammable material like wood
and plastic inside the sheds. At most places, vendors do not have access to
sufficient water to douse fire. Many of these vendors sell crackers close to
residential areas.
FEAR FACTOR
Shanti Patel, a 50-year-old
homemaker from Ranip who was shopping near Teen Darwaza, said, “I wish I could
avoid Diwali shopping in the old city. These shops are too many and too close
to each other for my peace of mind. One spark can burn down the entire market
in a minute. These lanes are so narrow that firemen will struggle to access the
site.“ Angana Shah, a 44-year-old working professional from Satellite, said,
“There are so many shops in Gurukul, Satellite and S G Highway that have set up
stalls on footpaths to sell crackers These are in residential areas. A fire
will prove fatal and will cause loss of life and property.“
When contacted, a police officer,
refusing to be named, said, “Our hands are tied. Whenever we try to take steps
against the vendors, political parties interfere, claiming we are harassing
them. They prevent us from taking strict action.“ Chief Fire Officer Mehernosh
Dastur said, “We issued NOC to shops that sent applications. It is the police's
responsibility to check if a shop is selling crackers illegally.“
Though laws state there cannot be
more than 50 shops in a cluster, more than 100 shops can be found at Dilli
Darwaza. A serious violation is non-compliance of 3-m gap between stalls.
Several of them are set up next to stores selling combustible goods like wood,
plastic, paper cartons. Water buckets near stalls contain neither water nor
sand to douse fire. Bulbs hang from ceiling, tied to open wires.
OFFICIAL SPEAK:
These temporary stalls are
installed by poor vendors who change business according to season. It is tough
to monitor this group of vendors.
-Inspector N S Chaudhari, licence
dept
Srinathji Fireworks claims to be
one of the oldest cracker-making companies in the city. Yet, they have goofed
up in planning fire safety measures. The law states, “Fireworks should be kept
in a shed made of non-flammable material, which is closed and secure so as to prevent
unauthorised persons having access there to.“ But crackers were displayed on
wooden platforms, a serious transgression of safety norms. And people had easy
access to crackers at the stall.
OFFICIAL SPEAK:
We checked everything personally
before granting NOC to them.
-M F Dastur, Chief Fire Officer
Silver Banquet Hall, situated next
to a petrol pump, is a closed area piled with fire crackers. It has storage and
selling facilities under the same room. There's no bifurcation as rules demand.
The 1,000-sq ft room has only two buckets of water and 4 fire extinguishers.
The room is filled with combustile material like cartons, plastic and wood.The
fire exit gate is locked too.
OFFICIAL SPEAK:
I am not aware of this. We will
inspect the place as soon as possible.
-M F Dastur, Chief Fire Officer
Many illegal cracker stalls have
been set up near residential areas in Bodakdev, one of the busiest places in
the city. However, the law states, “No temporary cracker store should be set up
in close proximity to residential or market areas.“ This photograph clearly
shows violation of this rule.
OFFICIAL SPEAK:
In case of `kuchcha' stalls,
vendors are not permitted to set up near residential areas.
-M F Dastur, Chief Fire Officer
No comments :
Post a Comment