According to a police suo moto FIR, the building owner is being held negligent because the restaurant was operating without the required fire department no-objection certificate, and the owner also failed to make sure that there were working emergency exits on the floor.
Source: LatestLY
The incident reminds the population of the horrors of the 2010 Carlton Towers fire on Old Airport Road, which claimed nine lives and injured over seventy. After then, there have been other incidents of this kind; the most recent one happened in 2021 when an 82-year-old woman and her 59-year-old daughter were roasted to death when their apartment in a Devarachikkanahalli complex caught fire. Despite the fact that both buildings had broken safety regulations, everyone involved continued as usual after the first uproar, and no lessons were learned from these regrettable events.
The widespread corruption in the fire department, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), and other departments, such as the Excise Department, is one of the primary causes of the recurrence of similar tragedies. Most high-rises and commercial buildings in Bengaluru today are constructed illegally, according to the National Building Code (NBC), which states that roads less than 12 metres wide cannot have multi-story buildings, which are defined as constructions taller than 15 metres.
Source: Mirror Now
The building’s entryway should have a minimum width of six metres and a suitable setback. However, in Bengaluru nowadays, it is a reality that anyone with a piece of land may, by rubbing officials’ palms, construct a multi-story structure in defiance of all norms.
The government should establish an independent task force made up of highly ethical technical experts to conduct a safety audit of all high-rise and high-risk buildings, such as pubs, apartment buildings, and commercial complexes, and make sure they close or comply with all safety regulations, given how deep the rot runs. Criminal charges should be brought by the government against guilty and careless officials who have permitted rule infractions within their authority.The residents and employees of these buildings and establishments should not fall prey to the avarice and indifference of business owners and government representatives.
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