212 schools get fire safety papers

The Pioneer 25.04.2013

212 schools get fire safety papers

In a major development towards ensuring safety of students, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has managed to get fire safety clearance for over 200 school buildings. So far these schools were functioning without mandatory safety clearance. The SDMC has 588 primary schools while the number of school buildings is 270.

Schools operate in both morning and evening shifts. The officials said the fire department gave fire safety clearance to 212 schools after inspection of all the schools.

“The corporation had applied for fire clearance few months back after putting in place the infrastructure required as per the parameters of the fire department. The fire department officials conducted an inspection of all the schools buildings. The fire safety clearance has been granted to 212 schools buildings,” said spokesperson of South Corporation, Mukesh Yadav. The corporation officials said they would apply for safety clearance for other 58 schools buildings after introducing the changes as advised by the fire department. As per norms, the school building need to have provision of two exit doors for evacuation, the stairs need to be widened in some schools, the classrooms need to be amply ventilated to prevent choking of occupants during

fire, apart from installation of minimum number of fire extinguishers in all the schools. The officials said the civic body has increased the budget of fire safety to `10 crore during the current financial year (2013-14) from `8.4 crore Budget during the last fiscal.