Patna: The fire department on Monday intensified its crackdown on fire safety violations, inspecting over 10 establishments and issuing notices to more than 100 buildings—mainly coaching centres, hostels, hospitals and multi-storey structures—found breaching mandatory safety norms in the state capital. This drive followed the department being placed on high alert in the wake of recent devastating fire incidents in Rajasthan and Maharashtra.In Patna, authorities identified over 100 buildings breaching fire safety standards. These primarily included coaching institutes, illegal hotels and hostels, hospitals, and multi-storey buildings — sectors with high occupancy and potential for rapid fire spread in densely populated areas.
District fire officer Ritesh Pandey said several teams conducted inspections of the buildings, especially the coaching institutes in narrow lanes of Danapur, Kankarbagh, and other areas in the last two days. “We issued notices to 100 such establishments for not following the fire safety norms,” he said.“During inspection, we found that the current arrangements were not adequate, including narrow passageways, separate entry and exit points, and lack of fire extinguishers. Evacuation plans, fire exits, and arrangements as per the occupancy standards were not found satisfactory. The access road is narrow, making it difficult for fire engines to reach, while storage of flammable materials under stairs was another problem seen in the inspection. On these grounds, we issued notices to establishments to rectify the deficiencies,” Pandey told this newspaper on Monday.He added: “Within a week, if they fail to comply, we will take action against them, including registration of an FIR, and sealing of the building, with the cooperation of the district administration.”
