BBMP, Fire and Emergency Services squabble over who should shut down rooftop establishments with lax fire safety norms, allowing them to thrive in the bargain

While a Karnataka government audit has identified for closure 243 rooftop bars and restaurants with lax fire safety measures, they continue to thrive as the Fire and Emergency Services and BBMP engage in a quarrell over who should shut them. 

Following a fire at a rooftop hookah bar on October 19, the State government ordered an audit of all rooftop bars and the closure of those without clearance. The audit identified 243 such rooftop bars and restaurants. However, none of them have been closed.

Instead, they continue to thrive even as the Fire and Emergency Services and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are engaged in a quarrell over who should shut them. 

Following orders by Home Minister G. Parameshwara in the aftermath of the fire accident at Mudpipe Cafe in Koramangala, which forced a staffer to jump to safety from the roof, the Fire and Emergency Services conducted the audit of all rooftop bars and restaurants in Bengaluru on fire safety and identified 243 of them for closure. However, they sent the list to the BBMP asking them to shut down their operations. 

A senior fire official said the department doesn’t have powers to shut down establishments as they operate under the BBMP and said hence the list was handed over to the civic body. 

Now, the BBMP has said it does not have the powers to act against restaurants which have not obtained No Objection Certificate (NoC) from the Fire and Emergency Services and has asked the Fire Department to close these rooftop establishments.

“The BBMP cannot act on its own as this matter comes under the jurisdiction of the Fire and Emergency Services, which is the competent authority to issue closure orders over violations of fire safety norms. I have also spoken to the Director-General of Police, Fire and Emergency Services over the same. Unless competent authorities issue orders, we are unable to initiate action,” said Tushar Giri Nath, Chief Civic Commissioner, Bengaluru. 

A senior fire official continued to argue that they did not have powers to close these establishments as the BBMP was the licensing authority and they had to shut them, even as the BBMP officials argue that only the Fire and Emergency Services can shut an establishment over violations of fire safety norms. This back and forth has lead to the present impasse, allowing rooftop establishments with lax fire safety measures to continue to thrive in the meanwhile.