Chandigarh: Fire safety norms go up in smoke at furniture market, notices of no help

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, June 23

A day after a major fire was reported from the Sector 53/54 furniture market, it has come to light that violation of fire safety norms was rampant in shops here.

The Municipal Corporation (MC) said there were many violations in the market and the fire wing had served notices to shopkeepers, but to no avail. The MC said since a case regarding the market was pending in the court, they could not do much.

A visit to the market revealed that not all shops had fire extinguishers. On the rear side of some shops, inflammable material and waste were seen dumped. The shops on both sides of the road separating Sector 53 and 54 are located “almost on the road”. There is no space between the busy road and the tin-structured shops.

“We have served several notices regarding the violations to them in the past. The latest one was served in 2020 when a fire broke out during the Covid period,” said a fire official.

“Putting up a firefighting system doesn’t serve much purpose here as these all are tin-shed booths, which itself is structurally unsafe. Not just fire, these are vulnerable even in the case of an earthquake or high-velocity winds. Only a few shops have fire extinguishers,” said the official.

MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “We have been issuing notices to them to take all safety measures. We will again take up the matter with them.” Satish Kumar, president of the Furniture Market Traders Association, however, claimed, “Most shops here have fire extinguishers. While the waste lying on the rear side of the shops is regularly lifted using garbage trucks. There are a total of 118 shops and these are following the norms.”

Kulbir Singh, whose two shops were gutted in the fire yesterday, said, “We have been operating from here for 40 years. Initially, we got the space on rent from landowners. Later, the land was acquired by the UT Administration, but we got a stay from the court in 1993. We request the UT Administration to give us land in the marble market, Dhanas, or any other place so that such fire incidents can be avoided. We are already paying all taxes such as the GST to the government.”

Combustible material in shops

This was the 11th major fire reported from the market in the past 15 years. Fire officials and shopkeepers said it is due to combustible material such as thinner, polish, paint and wood kept at or around the shops that fire incident were often reported from here.

What the MC says

The Municipal Corporation (MC) said there were many violations in the market and the fire wing had served notices on shopkeepers, but to no avail. The MC said since a case regarding the market was pending in the court, they could not do much.

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