Ghaziabad: Illegal furniture markets have emerged as a major fire hazard, with shop owners operating from makeshift tin-roofed structures enclosed by boundary walls and obtaining electricity connections unlawfully. Large quantities of dry timber, plywood, PVC flooring material, foam and chemicals stored at these shops make them tinderboxes where even a small spark could lead to an inferno.On Kala Patthar Road, one such market has popped up. A suspected short circuit in an air conditioning unit at a storehouse of a quick commerce company triggered a major fire in the area on Oct 1. The fire spread to two furniture shops, a diagnostic centre and a housing society located next to the warehouse.Twelve fire engines brought the blaze under control in two hours. Although there were no casualties, the warehouse and the furniture shops were charred. One of them was completely burned down to the ground while parts of the other were affected. Inside the second furniture shop, the remaining pieces of furniture were covered in layers of ash and soot.On April 21 this year, a fire at Tyagi market in Crossings Republik gutted around 20 shops in the area. The fire was triggered by a gas leak in a restaurant. It took around three hours to control it. One of the shops that was destroyed was a furniture shop. It was also a makeshift shop walled by tin sheets.Residents said in both cases the blazes might not have started in these furniture shops, but they have always added fuel to the fire. They claimed they have complained several times about these stores, but the authorities have never taken any action against them.A resident of Uninav Height in Raj Nagar Extension, Rajiv Ranjan, said these illegal shops often display their items on the roads, leading to severe snarls. Moreover, they often draw electricity by hooking on to a loose, dangling canopy of wires.The founder of an AOA federation in Indirapuram, Alok Kumar, said such furniture shops have come up next to the roads over the past few years and can now be seen in Indirapuram, Vaishali, Vasundhara and other areas. “These markets often come up beside high-rises to attract more customers. Complaints have been filed with GDA several times; they were removed once, but they soon returned to the same spot, reopened their shops and expanded them,” he said. “None of these shops have basic safety protocols like functional fire extinguishers, water storage networks or designated emergency exit pathways.”The fire department said that these structures didn’t fall under the Fire Act. Chief fire officer Saurabh Kumar Singh said Uttar Pradesh Fire Act applies to buildings with an area of 500 square metres or more, a height exceeding 15 metres, or a height above nine metres in the case of schools and hospitals. “We can only send a letter to GDA and ask them to remove encroachments,” he said.A GDA official said, “Our enforcement wing has been carrying out anti-encroachment drives, but there has been no drive against the illegal furniture market. These markets operate on land which they have taken on rent, but even then the land beside major roads can’t be used to carry out any commercial activities.”DM Ravindra Kumar Mandar told TOI he would form a team comprising fire and discom officials to list illegal furniture markets and examine their power supply arrangements. He said the administration would try to relocate these markets to places away from highrises and other residential areas.
