The Times of India 09.11.2009
Residents oppose to AMC's fire safety drive
AHMEDABAD: The recent drive of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) in which highrise buildings were served notices for not adhering to fire safety norms is facing stiff opposition from members of housing societies.
On Sunday, more than 50 representatives of highrise buildings from various parts of the city, under the newly formed Federation of Ahmedabad Highrise Buildings(FAHB), held a meeting to discuss steps to counter the recent demand for No Objection Certificates (NOC) for fire safety by AMC.
Chairman of FAHB Anand Agarwal said, "This is just an added burden on us. The fire safety system will cost more than Rs 15 lakh depending on the number of flats in a building."
"We are open to a dry fire system in place. Technically, residential buildings are not so much at risk as shopping malls and complexes," added Agrawal.
AMC authorities say they are following the recent guidelines by Gujarat High Court on the issue. Till now, more than 1,100 societies have been served the notice and given 10 days to comply with fire safety norms.
Agrawal said, "At a time when we do not have enough water for ourselves, how will we store water for this system? In United States, civic authorities put water nodes at strategic location to provide water in time of fire disaster but here we do not have any such facility by AMC."
"We are going to make a collective representation to the higher authorities on this whole issue, " he added.
