BENGALURU: The wall collapse at Mantri Mall in Malleswaram has raised concerns over safety in the numerous malls dotting the city. Sources in the Fire Department and BBMP say that many of them violate norms once they get No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the respective departments.
Speaking to Express, N R Markhandeya, Deputy Director (Fire Prevention) of Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services (KSFES) said, “We have received complaints through letters, phone calls, Twitter and Facebook as well. We revisit malls in the city whenever we get information about violation of the National Building Code-2005. They rectify the violations and submit the changes they hade made.”
Fire Department sources said,
“We have been tough on builders. But it has come to our notice that some of the malls modify structures in violation of laws once they get the No-objection Certificate (NoC). The same happens with the BBMP guidelines too, but it is difficult to monitor.”
Markhandeya said, “While issuing the NoC, we inform them that for any illegal changes and modifications, the owner of the building will be held responsible.”
He said, “The Mantri Mall wall collapse incident doesn’t come under our purview and BBMP has to look into it. There have been instances where we have summoned promoters of many malls and commercial establishments for violating safety norms.”
Markhandeya said six months ago, the Fire Department had issued notice to Mantri Mall for having a gas bunk in one portion of the building in violation of norms. We issued a notice stating if they don’t rectify it, we will ask BESCOM to cut power supply. Within a month, they rectified it and we later withdrew the notice.”
In January 2016, based on complaints, the Fire Department issued notices to 18 malls in the city asking them to comply with the NCB guidelines.