Hindustan Times 28.10.2010
BMC to adopt ideas to make buildings saferA proposal to make the necessary amendments in the Development Control Rules (DCR) to accommodate suggestions by the building security advisory committee to make city buildings safe, will be tabled before the civic improvements committee on Thursday. The committee headed by NV Merani, former principal secretary, was formed to study the threat perception to buildings and suggest security measures to minimise that perception in the wake of terror attacks in the city.
The committee’s main areas of focus included measures by which regulations for blast-resistant structures could be incorporated, to integrate explosion alarms, detection and deactivation systems in the design, construction and maintenance of buildings and evacuation routes from all buildings.
Suggestions for surveillance for buildings, complete with CCTV cameras, a control room to monitor footage and police chowkies nearby, were also made.
The committee has also recommended banning underground car parks in high-risk buildings and will decide a stand-off point beyond which the vehicles will not be allowed to approach a building.
“The same proposal was tabled in June but because of several questions by members of the committee, a special meeting was scheduled to discuss the recommendations at length,” said a member of the committee.
Manoj Kotak, chairman of the improvement committee, said, “There was a separate meeting arranged to discuss the proposal, but no conclusion was arrived at then.”
The committee has categorised buildings into three – high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk – and all have to implement the recommendations. A third-party security audit will also be conducted yearly.
