You thought the fire in the Apartment in Kuwait was bad? Then read this..

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/kuwait-apartment-fire-many-killed/article68280816.ece

Remember, we do not have enough information about what happened in the fire in June, earlier this year, in Kuwait. Why don’t we have information? Well, it’s because Kuwait does not permit freedom of the Press, or Kuwait and migrants don’t matter to us.

If you were to file an RTI petition with the Ministry of Urban Development , Karnataka, asking how many illegal ‘high rise’ buildings there are in Bengaluru, you will possibly get no answer. Maybe you will get an answer, but you will not get the real answer. Why is that? That is because the people who are the guardians of the law, as far as building permissions in Bengaluru are concerned, The Bangalore Development Authority ( BDA), The Bruhut Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike ( BBMP) , The Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority ( BMRDA) or any other peripheral authorities are conveniently turning a blind eye to what is happening around them.

Forget the sheer illegality – just think Fire:

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/fire-safety-as-per-national-building-code2016/112784186 please spend 15 minutes going through these slides. Then ask yourself, if you live in a building that is taller than 15 meters ( Ground + Four floors) whether you have all the requirements that are essential for fighting a fire in a building.

Those in Bangalore will have seen, what is sadly labelled as ‘PG Slums’ being built, especially in the suburbs. Buildings that are below 21 meters ( will explain why they stick to that) are built on sites of 1200 sft – up to 15 buildings on an acre sometimes. These buildings do not have any of these basic requirements:

( BTW, the norm is that any fire above the 5th floor is to be fought from inside the building. I’m sure the Developers of the ‘PG Slums’, have no idea about these niceties!)

No adequate setback, as per either, building laws or Fire fighting requirements.
No separate water tanks for Fire fighting needs.
No sprinklers.
Not enough staircases. ( Forget the minimum distance from each unit to the staircase)
No Wet Risers.

In short, nothing to save people and their belongings in the unfortunate event of there being a fire. ( Please see the link at the end by Beyond Carlton).

A PG Slum in Nallurhalli:

In the first picture you may say there is enough road width for a Fire Engine to move, but then that is okay for the people in the front. What about those living in the rear? What about those living on the two sides? Have you noticed how people can play cards sitting in their apartments, with people in adjacent buildings ? In fact, card players can complain that those in neighbouring buildings can see their cards. That is how close they are to each other.

What’s this Magic of 21 meters?

On the 24th of March 2023, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly passed an ordinance, as below. It amended the need to obtain a Fire NOC for any buildings that are above 15 meters ( as per the National Building Code (NBC) to 21 meters. Why? Well, you can guess.

Here, below, is the Ordinance:

Whereas it is expedient further to amend the Karnataka Fire Force Act, 1964 (Karnataka Act 42 of 1964), for the purposes hereinafter appearing; Be it enacted by the Karnataka State Legislature in the Seventy fourth year of the Republic of India as follows:- 1. Short title and commencement.-(1) This Act may be called the Karnataka Fire Force (Amendment) Act, 2023. (2) It shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from 24th March 2023. 2. Amendment of Section 13.- In section 13 of the Karnataka Fire Force Act, 1964 (Karnataka Act 42 of 1964) after sub-section (2), the following shall be inserted, namely:- “(3) Any person proposing to construct a high rise building shall obtain a No Objection Certificate from the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services department. (4) Subject to the provisions of the National Building Code 2016 relating to Fire and life safety, while issuing a No objection certificate for construction of a high rise building, the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services department shall follow such procedure and collect such amount of fee as may be prescribed. Explanation: “A high rise building” means a building of 21 meters or above in height irrespective of its occupancy as defined in the National Building Code 2016.”

This is the magic that makes all ‘PG Slums’ immune to providing any sort of Fire Fighting requirements. Sadly, because they are ‘powerful people’ no one acts against them.

INVESTIGATION: PG ‘slums’ of Bengaluru are a ticking time bomb putting lives at risk in IT hubs

Please read the above article.

The fear that makes me write this Blog is what will happen in the event of a fire:

Please remember that these illegal PG Slums are built so close that a fire in one building / apartment can spread to so many buildings in a jiffy. The danger that this presents is far greater than what happened in Carlton Towers, Old Airport Road, Bangalore.

While a building collapse is a slightly slower process or may allow those living in adjacent buildings to escape, fire gives you no such time. What is the logic by which the government in power in March 2023, in Karnataka, amended the NOC requirement, through an Ordinance? If anything, I would assume an Ordinance should be brought in to penalise buildings that do not have even ‘basic’ legality.

Where is my once beautiful city of Bengaluru going? Is life worth so little that not even the powers that be are bothered about illegal buildings that are fire traps? What do citizens mean to the powers that be? Are we citizens merely ‘votes’ that are important during elections? Or are we just ATM’s to milk taxes and cash from? When will our bureaucrats and politicians see us as fellow Humans, people who need to be cared for, worried about and looked after? Will the apathy change?

Right now, all we see is politicians talking about religion, scams, pulling down of governments and trying to stay in or come back to power. If anyone, reading this, feels that they can do anything to help change the way the powers that be look at Bengaluru, then please do something. We need our city back, we need humanity to be woken up and goaded into making Bengaluru a place we can , for our children, at least.