The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced the drafting of a new Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for charging fire service fees on buildings in Mumbai starting July 2021.
A circular issued by the Mumbai Fire Brigade on June 7 states that fire service and annual fees are charged as per the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2006. “It is necessary to recover the fees as per the provisions of the Act from March 3, 2014 for all buildings constructed on or after December 6, 2008,” the circular read.
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The circular further said - “The deputy chief fire officer concerned, with help of assistant divisional fire officers and divisional fire officers, will find out data of permissions granted to buildings from March 3, 2014, to May 14, 2015, where the BMC is the planning authority; and from March 3, 2014, to June 6, 2021, of buildings where Mhada, MMRDA, SRA or MbPT is the planning authorities. Data of buildings that came up between May 15, 2015, and June 6, 2021, will be made available by the chief engineer (development plan) for levy of fire service fees and annual fees.”
BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal approved the recovery of the fire service fees from eligible buildings in May this year. Officials said that the annual charge for buildings is 1 per cent per year of the fire service fee amount. Meanwhile, the fire service fee comes up to ₹10 per square metre.
Explaining the current situation, a senior civic official said, “While 50% of the money collected under this head is to be given to the state government to strengthen fire services in other parts of the state, the remaining 50% is to be used by the BMC in Mumbai to create better fire safety and firefighting infrastructure like creating more fire stations. However, this money has not been recovered since 2014; it was stuck in red tape between the state government and the BMC.”
The official went on to say that the civic body had previously offered exemptions to charitable and religious institutions on the payment of these fees.
Criticizing the delay in the process, BJP Corporator Vinod Mishra said, “If you calculate the interest on the principal amount of Rs 1,400 crore for seven years, the amount is much more. A probe must be conducted either by the anti-corruption bureau or economic offences wing against the officials concerned who did not charge the fees to favour builders in exchange for kickbacks. The responsibility for not recovering this money must be fixed.”
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