60 pubs flouting fire safety norms in Hyderabad to be shut down

By Ajay Moses|

Express News Service |

Published: 19th January 2019 02:56 AM

What remains of the house that blew up in an LPG gas cylinder blast at Kapra in Hyderabad on Friday | S Senbagapandiyan

HYDERABAD: Around 60 pubs located in and around Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad are likely to be shut down in the next few days, but for good reason. These pubs have reportedly been risking the lives of their customers by forgoing fire safety norms.

The Enforcement Vigilance and Disaster Management (EVDM) wing have already sent out notices to 116 pubs for not complying with the fire safety norms.

These pubs were required to apply for a No-objection Certificate to show that they have been functioning in compliance with the norms. However, with just three days left for applying, almost half of them have not submitted their applications.

“We have shut down eight pubs already and have slapped notices to 116 pubs, out of which 60 or 70 will be shut down in the next two days,” said K Viswajit Kampati, Director of EVDM.

“One would think that small bars and pubs would not apply for the NOC, but what is surprising is that all of them have submitted their applications. Only the pish posh pubs from Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills have flouted the norms,” he added.

On asking if there was any resistance from the pub managements owing to the fact that a lot of them, are managed by politicians and influential persons, Kampati said, “We have not bent down to any pressure as this is the matter of public safety. The public should not suffer because commercial establishments flout fore safety norms,” he said.

The pubs on the verge of a shut down will now have to apply for an NOC besides maintaining basic fire safety measures like escape routes, fire extinguishers, and water sprinklers. Currently, 600 bars and pubs have applied for fire NOCs, in compliance with the norms specified by the EVDM officials.

Eight popular bars and pubs have already been seized in the city. According to officials, these pubs have re-applied for certificates and installed adequate safety measures. It may be noted that in December 2017, a fire broke out in a popular pub in Mumbai claiming as many as 14 lives in total.