Despite the difficulties experienced in extinguishing fire in Chennai Silks building in Chennai, no objection certificate (NOC) was issued to reconstruct the building, according to the compliance Audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the year ended March 2022 tabled in the Assembly on Wednesday.
The fire accident occurred in Chennai on May 31, 2017, and the Fire and Rescue Services Department took 30 hours to douse the fire, mainly due to inaccessibility to the building which was situated on a busy commercial road, the CAG said in its specific Area Compliance Audit on ‘Preparedness and Response of Fire and Rescue Services Department’.
The Aerial Ladder Platform vehicle brought to the scene by the department could not be put to use due to locational difficulties and the department had to bring in additional crash tender from airport to douse the fire, it said.
Audit found that the NOC was issued despite the side and rear setbacks of the proposed construction being narrower than what the department had considered insufficient in the enquiry report of the fire accident. This brought to light the lack of convergence between rules governing building permissions and actual requirement from the point of view of fire protection, the CAG said.
In January 2023, the State government replied that issuing building licence was the discretion of the building licensing authority. The reply reconfirmed the audit’s observation, the CAG noted.
It also pointed to the fire incident during a temple chariot possession in Thanjavur in April 2022, instances of fire in dump yards and fire incidents at hospitals. Though the Director of Fire and Rescue Services (DFRS) proposed a bill on regulation of temporary structure and pandals as early as in 2001, no action has been taken by the State government on the proposed bill nor was any amendment made to the existing Act in this regard, it said. Thus temporary structures remained vulnerable without fire safety approvals from DFRS, it said.
The State government replied in January 2023 that fire safety permission / NOC was not required for smaller religious festivals. Audit observed that at least after the accident involving a large death toll, the DFRS should have reassessed the risks associated with such events and considered suitable measures.
On fire in dump yards, the State government accepted that there is a need to have fire safety measures like provision for gangway, minimum 10 lakh litre capacity of water sump etc, but viewed that implementation rests with the Corporations/Municipalities. The reply is not acceptable as monitoring the enforcement of these fire safety measures is vital for ensuring safety and protection from fire in dump yards, the CAG said.
As per fire audit conducted by the Department in 2,200 Government Hospitals/Health Centres, post the fire incident in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, in April 2022, it was found that in 1,223 institutions fire safety norms were not followed, the CAG said. The State government said a consolidated report on fire audit in Government Hospitals was received in June 2022. However, the reply was silent on the action taken, it added.
Meanwhile, the specific Area Compliance Audit on scheme for providing free house site pattas to Adi Dravidar (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) beneficiaries pointed out that the scheme suffered due to non-institution of a formal system for receipt, processing and monitoring of applications for allotment of house sites.
Large extents of acquired land remained undistributed to eligible beneficiaries and more than 50% of the beneficiaries in four out of the eight sampled districts had not constructed houses in the sites allotted to them for periods ranging from 13 to 49 years due to non-convergence of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-G) scheme, the CAG said. Significant number of beneficiaries sold their land within the lock-in period but the existing system could not prevent such irregular sale of assigned land, it said.
The specific area compliance audit also focused on implementation of welfare schemes in Department for the Welfare of Differently abled persons. The implementation of welfare schemes suffered due to lack of timely sanctioning of funds and deficient planning at the Commissionerate level which lead to delay and denial of timely benefits to beneficiaries, it said.
Inadequate number of special schools in several districts impacted access to education for differently abled children. Lapses in procurement of scooters and gold coins connected with scheme implementation caused avoidable additional expenditure, the CAG said.
It also said the government lacked a centralised database of Differently Abled Persons and relied on manual records which were not maintained properly in district offices. Deficiencies in monitoring and lack of regular follow-up hindered the effective implementation of schemes, it said.
