The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) has inspected 55 malls in Mumbai and found that 13 of them are not complying with the fire safety act. This inspection began after a tragic fire at a gaming zone in Rajkot claimed 28 lives.
The MFB has revealed that these 13 malls will receive a notice from the civic body. They will be required to send details about the maintenance of their fire systems within the next 30 days. The authority had also issued notices to malls where fire systems were found to be non-functional or under repair.
There are 69 malls in Mumbai. However, three of them are currently closed due to various reasons. The city's malls have seen an increase in traffic due to the school summer holiday. To inspect the fire safety of malls, MFB started its inspection on Sunday, May 19.
During the inspection, it found that several malls were operating without a functional fire system. For instance, some malls had a jockey pump in their fire system that needed repair. It should be noted that every mall has a fire NOC. But these malls were found to be violating the Fire Act as they failed to provide Form B.
Form B is an important document under the Fire Act. It needs to be renewed every six months. It contains information about the maintenance of the current fire systems and any replacement systems. Despite having a NOC, malls are required to submit and update their fire compliance data every six months.
The majority of the non-compliant malls are located in the affluent H/West ward, which includes Bandra, Santacruz, and Khar. Three malls in this ward were found to be non-compliant.
This is followed by the D ward, P/South ward, and R/Central ward, each having two non-compliant malls. Once the inspection is completed, the civic authority will issue a notice to the malls that have been found to be non-compliant so far.
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