Could you point out some stark differences in the busy neighbourhoods of cities across India? I guess no. How about finding some similarities? There are many. Congested buildings, overlapping shops, intricate tapestry of dingy lanes and more. It is quite surprising that nowadays you will not find hardcore region-specific distinct architecture that will reflect the heritage or style of the city.
In today’s India, a similar type of architectural pattern is mostly reflected in the buildings. Superior constructions with all the amenities attract us. Everything is available except for the proper fire-safety measures and preventive strategies. These patterns clearly highlight the images of unethical practices preached by the concerned authorities. In beehive structure of residential or commercial spaces and matchbox like constructions, we least bother about the fire safety codes, to which the helpless commoners fall prey. The gut-wrenching visual of Surat tragedy is one of the recent examples.
Flames of deep-rooted greed, immoral practices, ignorance and lack of awareness shattered the bright future of those innocents. How to console their families? The thoughtful and safe architecture along with effective town planning is lacking since decades, which results in these dreadful disasters. Increasing concentration of cities, uncontrolled migration, overpopulation (crowd), congestion, etc., affects our lives all the more. As reported, the fire brigade reached Takshashila Arcade (Surat) 45 minutes later. Whom to blame for this delay? Even if we negate all the related factors, how do we avoid crowd, congestion and heavy traffic?
Referring to the most recent publicly available data, every day, in India, 51 people die due to fire incidents. The Government officials made an interesting announcement, of fire safety audit for every building, right after the Surat tragedy. However, the ironical part of this story is, if a fire policy check is run in the urban centres, unfortunately, only 0.1% of buildings would pass the fire safety norms. Like every other responsible corporate, who care about the environment and health and safety of the commoners, we are pleased to learn about this fire safety audit initiative. Though we are even amazed to see this decision was taken after 23 gentle souls were lost even before they could dream of making India a better place to live in!
Therefore, our questions after this fire incident are quite clear and bold:
- What will our New and Progressive India look like?
- When shall we become more aware and conscious about these incidents; especially fire?
- Will, we still repeat the blunders that have been followed for 15-20 years?
- Are ‘Smart cities’ literally smart enough to take care of their residents?
- Can the buildings with congested infrastructure be demolished?
- How to, at least, stay alive during a fire breakout until rescuers reach?
- How many more mourning candles will march down the roads of the cities across India?
- What will be the ideal solution to all the above-mentioned questions in New India?
There is a big question mark on “Whose Fault is this”? We do not want to dive that deep, pointing each other’s loopholes. However, we would surely want the usage of the safest building materials and Fire-retardant materials, which has fireproof properties close to the metals, to be made mandatory for constructing any kind of buildings. Keeping in mind the health, safety, and environment, #BeatTheFire movement has to be made strong, more popular and effective so that in near future India could be well-guarded against fire hazards. It is our pledge to keep contributing in our own little ways and ensure fire safety in buildings.
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