Playing with fire, and child safety Premium

A recent fire at a girls’ hostel in Vijayawada has unveiled alarming safety lapses in Andhra Pradesh’s child care institutions. The blaze exposed the absence of fire safety compliance in more than half of the State’s 740 child care homes.

On the evening of February 29, the desperate cries of a few students pierced through the quietude at the Urban Residential Hostel for Girls in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The girls were immersed in studies when they noticed a roaring inferno at a ground floor room of the two-storey building around 8.30 p.m. They hastily evacuated the hostel, their screams echoing through Vinayaka Nagar in Kanuru, a neighbourhood in Vijayawada, and prompting locals to rush to their aid.

“Thick smoke had filled the room in which fire started. We were all panicking,” recalls Chinnari, a PG student staying at the hostel. This child care institution (CCI) is run by a voluntary organisation named Vasavya Mahila Mandali in Krishna district. Inmates, referred by the Child Welfare Committees (CWC), are studying from primary classes to post graduation.

A fire tender rushed in from Auto Nagar and doused the flames, averting what could have been a major tragedy. Concerted efforts by the locals and firefighters ensured safe evacuation of all 67 girl students. As the embers of the fire subsided, revealing blackened walls and the remnants of destruction — a burnt computer, melted electric cables, and personal belongings — the glaring absence of fire safety compliance and a valid No-Objection Certificate (NOC) looms ominously.

“The building does not have an NOC from the AP State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department. There were no fire extinguishers at the hostel,” Auto Nagar Station Fire Officer K. Naresh, who led the firemen, had said.

It is not just this particular facility; numerous CCIs across the State, catering to orphans, semi-orphans, trafficked and abused children, victims of child marriage, and other vulnerable cases, fall short on safety standards. Officials from the Juvenile Welfare, Correctional Services, and Welfare of Street Children department, the licensing and monitoring authority, reveal a disconcerting reality — over 50% of the 740 child care homes in Andhra Pradesh lack a fire No-Objection Certificate (NOC) and disregard essential fire safety norms.

The State houses 41 Government Bala Sadans, providing shelter for children aged up to five years, and 17 Observation Homes for Boys and Girls, including four government-run children homes. However, a majority of these are yet to obtain the necessary NOC from the Fire department, highlighting a systemic safety concern.

Officers of the Fire, Juvenile Welfare, Education, Revenue, Women Development & Child Welfare (WD&CW) and other departments do not inspect the homes regularly, and the children have to put up with poor facilities and lack of security measures, allege child rights activists. Many of these CCIs do not have proper buildings, drinking water, toilets, playgrounds, sick rooms and medical kits, they say.