TimesView The Surat coaching institute inferno that claimed the lives of 19 students will hopefully be a wake-up call for the Telangana government. Many coaching institutes in Hyderabad do not comply with fire safety norms. Fire department staff should immediately swing into action and conduct safety inspections. If the coaching centres are found wanting in safety measures, they should be sealed forthwith and the persons running them penalised heavily.

HYDERABAD: Sitting smack in the middle of Hyderabad’s bustling central business district, Ameerpet is the primary hub of private coaching centres in the city. Hundreds of technical and skill development institutes — with high daily footfall — are seen jostling for space with most of them operating out of crammed spaces, paying little or no regard to safety norms.When STOI visited some of these centres, on Saturday, most of them were found sporting a single narrow staircase leading to each floor, none of which had even most basic fire safety equipment: a fire extinguisher. Shockingly, the fire exits spotted in a few were locked and inaccessible. The classrooms had no provision for any ventilation and sources there said that they often host more than capacity. If built for 20 students, often 40 students are spotted attending a session at a time.“Our classroom has the capacity to hold only four to five students, but at least 10 of us sit in it at any given point of time. Because of no ventilators, I feel very claustrophobic, especially in this heat. Even the staircases have very little space. So, if a Surat-like fire breaks out here, it’ll be almost impossible for us to escape,” said Keerthi Reddy, who travels from Vanasthalipuram to Ameerpet every day to pursue a computer-aided design and drafting software course.The coaching centre charges Rs 15,000 for each course with their duration varying from 6 to 10 months.Along with the lack of fire-fighting equipment and signage, there are concerns about the callous use of electrical appliances as well. “All the computer wires can be seen lying on the floor of the classroom and reception area. This is dangerous as every now and then I read about fire accidents due to short circuit. Also, the coaching centre building is so rickety that it might collapse if it catches fire,” said Jagannath Krishnaiah, who is studying software testing at one of the centres.There’s more. The use of cellars as classrooms, for instance. In fact, STOI walked into one such makeshift classroom where it found chairs laid out for students right next to where a bunch of private cars were parked. “One of the major violations of fire safety norms is misusing the cellar. While it should be strictly used only as parking space, as it is also an escape route , many flout this norm,” said V Papaiah, regional fire officer, Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department.But despite the many gaps in safety, coaching centre owners say that they continue to work out of Ameerpet for two reasons: its branding as the hub of training institutes and affordability. “We started our centre two months ago. We pay a rent less than Rs 1 lakh along with Rs 1,500 towards maintenance, which is cheaper than most places. Also it attracts a higher footfall,” said A Rahul, who runs the Rahul Spoken English class. Admitting to the problems he said: “I have worked in the UAE for several years and know that commercial buildings must give priority to fire safety. The employees need to attend periodic mock drills to know how to use a fire extinguisher and how to escape. But here, there is no such thing.”