Fire services flag 243 rooftop restaurants over fire safety violations

Fire Dept. finds 243 rooftop restaurants violating fire safety norms; list shared with BBMP for further action. BBMP has closed 60 restaurants, issued notices to 200+ & is awaiting data from Fire Dept. to initiate separate crackdown. 2018 Kamala Mills Fire in Mumbai sparked similar reaction.

Fire and Emergency Services Department has listed out 243 rooftop restaurants including pubs, bars and hookah bars which have violated fire safety norms and license rules. The department has now shared the details with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for further action.

The Fire Department commenced a survey of such restaurants on October 19, a day after Mudpipe cafe which is housed on the fourth floor of a building at Koramangala near forum mall caught fire. During the inspection it was found that the cafe had not obtained No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire Department, besides violating norms of the trade license issued by the civic body. The cafe had secured a license to cater food but was serving hookah. 

A senior fire officer talking to The Hindu said “After conducting a survey of the rooftop establishments across the city, we have found 243 restaurants violating fire safety rules and other norms. As these establishments should be dealt with stringent action, the list has been shared with the BBMP.” The officer further informed that the list was shared with BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath and he has forwarded the same to the Chief Engineer. The Chief Engineer in turn will share the details with concerned officials to initiate action.

A senior health official said the Health Department is yet to receive the data and as soon as the data is shared the civic body will act. On the other hand, the BBMP has been independently taking action. BBMP Special Commissioner, K.V. Trilok Chandra said there may be an overlap in connection to establishments against which the civic body was acting and those now flagged by the Fire and Emergency Services. “We will go through the list to avoid any overlap,” he said.  

According to the data shared by the BBMP, the civic body has closed down 60 restaurants including pubs, hotels and rooftop cafes and issued notices to more than 200. After the health department receives this fresh list, a separate operation to crackdown on rooftop establishments may commence. According to sources in the BBMP the list is currently with Chief Engineer. 

It can be recalled that in a similar crackdown on rooftop restaurants in 2018 following the December 2017 Kamala Mills Fire in Mumbai, a fire accident in which 14 people were killed in a rooftop restaurant. In a similar reaction after a fire accident, Fire and Emergency Services and BBMP conducted a similar survey and slapped closure notices to several rooftop restaurants. However, this did not put an end to unsafe rooftop restaurants in the city, as evident in the Koramangala fire accident recently.