Fires - When will Delhi be prepared?

The question is not 'Is Delhi prepared'? The answer to that will be an obvious 'No'. The real question is "When will Delhi be prepared and whether anything can be done to expedite that process?

According to Delhi Fire Service statistics, Delhi had more than 75,000 fire incidents during the last five years (1995-96 to 1999-2000), resulting in more than 1825 deaths, injuries to more than 7,600 persons and loss of property valuing more than Rupees 176 crores. These incidents included two major, twenty-five serious and ninety-nine medium fires. Echoes of Uphaar tragedy have still not died down nor have the families of victims forgottenthe Lal Kuan fire.

The only redeeming feature in this scenario is the declining trend in high - rise building fires - down from a high of 173 in 1993 to only 66 in 1999. This has obviously been achieved because of relentless pursuit by Delhi Fire Services of enforcement of the minimum fire safety standards in such buildings, in spite of inadequacy of some legal provisions. The number of high-rise buildings not complying with such standards has now come down to about70 only from 220 earlier. The fire safety standards have improved in such buildings, but, by no means, reached the level of total safety.

There has also been a welcome decrease in the number of persons injured and deaths during last two to there years but it is too early to take it as a definite trend. It is also difficult to assess from bare statistics as to how much of this decline was fortuitous and how much contributed to by positively planned safety and rescue measures. But what is worrying is the increasing trend in fires in jhuggis (up by 49% from5277 jhuggis in 1995 to 7840 in 1999, residential areas (up by 21% to 2701 in 1999 from 2240 in 1995), and other fires (up by 33% from 6640 in 1995 to 8858 in 1999). Persons vulnerable to such fires constitute a majority of the populace of Delhi.

The reasons for these trends are not far to seek. They lie basically in laxity in enforcement of planning norms and building bye-laws relevant to fire safety, non-implementation of Municipal and other materials, control on unauthorized encroachments and overcrowding inadequate infra-structure for fire fighting. And, above all, failure to promote proper awareness about fire hazards and concept of fire safety and prevention.

About 70%of fires are estimated to arise from electrical causes, mainly short-circuiting and another about 17% due to carelessness. Electric short circuiting results mainly from illegal loose connections, substandard wiring and over-loading of the system. Illegal tapping of electricity from overhead lines through use of loose hooks has been a common sight in Delhi. During Gandhi Market, Sadar bazar, fire (1990) enquiry, it was found that an electric pole had even being enclosed within the unauthorised construction with overhead wires running only about 4/5 feet above the roof of the illegal construction. Yet, no Municipal Corporation of Delhi or Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking official had even taken notice of these blatant violations of all norms and rules. Then fire was found to have started as result of some wood shavings lying on the roof catching fire from the sparks from the overhead electric line. Due to loose connection of wires of the irregular tapping and over loading, distribution losses are also known to be one of the highest. Yet, the authorities are unable to check such illegal tapping, supposedly due to resistance from local residents and politicians. The recommendations of various Committees to replace overhead lines with underground cables too have not been implemented , particularly in the fire prone older areas.

Jhuggi fires are a common occurrence in Delhi, particularly in summers, and jhuggi clusters in Yamuna bed experience, more or less, yearly fires. Their extreme vulnerability to fire risk, with their totally unplanned, usually back to back construction with highly flammable, some also toxic, materials like plastic/ polythene sheets, bamboos, soft wood, dried grass etc., lack of any regular roads or even lanes of proper width to provide access to fire tenders, unauthorisedly tapped electric connections from overhead electic line, with loose sub-standard in-house wiring, usual stocking of highly falmmable and toxic scarp materials (plastic, polythene, rubber, foam etc) for reccycling, and lack of any regular water supply for fire fighting , coupled with little sense of fire safety among the residents and no organized effort or preparation for fire fighting, which make them a fire fighters nightmare, have all been highlighted, time and again, by numerous Enquiry Committees, routinely appointed, more or less as a pro-forma exercise, after every fire. Recommendations abound about remedial measures to improve their fire-safety by encouraging planned layout with proper access, even enforcing at least at the time of their rebuilding after a big fire by making it a condition for grant of relief for reconstruction, discouraging/prohibiting use of flammable/ toxic materials for construction of their storage in residential jhuggis, strict control on unauthorized tapping of electricity, and above all, increasing awareness amongst the residents about the nature of fire hazards for them and safety measures to be adopted. Neither the political patron saints nor the political or bureaucratic bosses have taken any real interest in implementing any such recommendation. There appear to have been no major initiatives even by any non-government organizations (NGO) in this area. In the meantime, jhuggi clusters continue to burn periodically to be reconstructed with no better fire safety standards, and new ones, with the same fire risks, go on mushrooming under political patronage to provide vote banks, to be regularized later, making a mockery of all planning efforts. They become literal 'lakshagrahas' waiting only for a spark from either the unauthorized electric connection or the jhuggi hearth.

The residential and other fires, of any consequences. Also take place mostly in congested localities and unauthorized settlements/colonies with unplanned substandard constructions, contributed to by irregular, and even illegal, usage with running of hazardous industries or trades and/or storage of hazardous industries or trades and / or storage of hazardous and flammable chemical and other materials. Such fires have occurred in walled/old city areas of Ballimaran, Naya Bazar, Sadar Bazar etc., sometimes more than once in the same locality, taking a toll of human lives, besides substantial property losses. Again recommendations by numerous inquiry committees for decongesting the areas and undertaking planned development of such localities, proper check on unauthorized constructions and encroachments, stricter enforcement of municipal laws regulating/banningtrade in or storage of hazardous chemicals and other flammable materials, adequate action by DESU/DVB (Delhi Vidhut Board) against unauthorized tapping of electricity supply lines etc. have all mostly remained unimplemented due to lack of political and administrative will and pressures from politicians and local residents. After Gandhi Market in Sadar Bazar was burnt down by a big fire, inspite of specific of recommendations of the inquiry committee which went into the causes and other aspects of the fire, of which I was a member, the market was rebuilt within days in the old manner of overcrowded unauthorized constructions. The schemes for shifting of hazardous industries/trades to outlying areas have remained on paper only. In fact , even the orders of the Apex Court for shifting of polluting industries from non-conforming areas in the city are being resisted and pressure is being built up by vested political and other interests to modify the Master Plan itself to allow the industries on their present locations, on plea of unemployment of the workers. Any implementation, on the other hand, is half-hearted and tardy. The shifting of plastic scarp market from Jwalapuri after a serious fire there in 1995, for example, is reported to have lead top most of the villages on way to the new site becoming plastic scarp trade/storage centers.

With regard to infra-structure for fires management, a board set up by the Government of India, as far back as in 1976, has recommended setting up if 63 fire stations in Delhi in a phased manner. A long-term plan drawn up in 1988 for strengthening the Delhi Fire Service had recommended setting up of the two fire stations every year to reach the target recommended by the 1976 Board by 2001. Yet, only 36 Stations have been set up so far. There were 34 fire stations have been set up by Delhi Government submitted its report and only two have been set up thereafter. The budget outlay for Delhi Fire Service has, fortunately, been increasing during the last few years, but the leeway is too big to be made up in the near future.

The preparedness for dealing with fire hazards in Delhi is unlikely to be achieved unless there is proper political and administrative will to take the requisite corrective measures, which have been identified repeatedly by a host of inquiry commissions/committees, set up from time to time after practically every big fire in the city. To quote Vajpeyi Committee, which reviewed in some detail the main recommendations of various such commissions/committees and follow up action thereon, "The main weakness during the last 15 years has been that we have been extremely slow in learning the lessons from our past commissions and omissions. That is where the difficulty of making suggestions regarding remedialand perventive measure by thios Committee lies…There is very little new ground to be covered ". The Committee had, accordingly, suggested as the "first and perhaps the strongest, measure: that the "concerned authorities may go through the recommendations made by various Committee had , accordingly, suggested as the "first and perhaps the strongest, measure", that the "concerned authorities may go through the recommendations made by various Committees" (which the Vajpayi Committee had compiled in a separate annexure) "to work out an action plan for taking corrective measures". The Committee had also recommended the setting up of a Monitoring Body to review the implementation of these recommendations on a regular basis.

An important element in preparedness is public awareness about fire risks, particularly those affecting them, concepts of fire safety and prevention and steps, particularly those relevant to their conditions, to meet and manage such hazards. What is required is a focused and sustained awareness drive to make the more vulnerable sections of the population conscious of the fire risks affecting them and their consequences, and the fact that these can be managed or reduced with some precautions, efforts and organization. Of course there will be need for creating public awareness in general in this regard, starting from the schools. The NGOs can play an important and useful role in this connection by adopting some vulnerable localities/settlements for creating public awareness as well as training and organizing their residents in preventive and management strategies.