Staff crunch, distance hit issue of fire NOCs

Surat/Rajkot: Incidents like Takshashila Arcade fire in Surat and TRP Game Zone fire in Rajkot are eye-openers as far as fire safety of establishments is concerned. These tragedies call for a robust fire preventive infrastructure to be in place. But inadequate number of fire officers in the state is a cause of worry for issue of fire NOCs.
Government norms say a fire NOC is a must for all premises — whether it is a school, college, commercial or residential complex.While it the chief fire officer (CFO) in municipal corporations is authorised to issue NOC in his own area, the regional fire officer (RFO) has the mandate to issue NOC in the remaining part of the district. There are eight CFOs and six RFOs in the state.
CFOs have to deal with a limited area, but RFOs have to deal with a large area. For example, Surat RFO is responsible for issuing NOC in all seven districts of south Gujarat — Bharuch, Dang, Narmada, Navsari, Surat, Tapi and Valsad.
After the Rajkot fire incident, many organisations are raising concerns over the distance of the RFO office and centralised administration that they say are delaying the NOC process. They say the process should be decentralized and the power to issue the fire NOC should be given to an officer at the district level.
In case of schools, the NOC is required if the height of the building is higher than nine metres. “Though our building is closer to a municipality, we have to go to Kamrej in Surat to get the NOC. This is a peculiar situation — a nearby fire station carries out the rescue and firefighting operations, but an office far away checks our fire preparedness,’’ said the director of a school.
A school trustee in Valsad said, “We applied online for fire NOC and the rest of the procedure was carried out by the agency that installed fire safety infrastructure at our school. But a local office will definitely make a difference and help get the NOCs faster.’’
In case of Saurashtra and Kutch, the districts of Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Morbi, Porbandar, Rajkot and Kutch fall under Rajkot RFO. The Rajkot RFO is responsible for issuing NOC to all establishments in 30 municipalities in these six districts.
According to a fire officer, after an applicant in a municipality applies for the fire NOC, it has to be verified by the station officer and then sent for review at the regional office. In case the building height is more than 35 metres, the RFO visits the site before issuing the NOC. “In case a station fire officer submits his negative report, the applicant is required to visit Rajkot to meet the RFO,” the officer said.
Officials in Directorate of State Fire Prevention Services (DSFPS), Gandhinagar, admitted that they are dealing with severe staff shortage because of which it takes time to process the applications. They said that they have sought more personnel from the government the and that some of the steps in the application process will soon go online which will speed up the issue of NOC.
“The final NOC is supposed to be taken offline from the RFO. But soon, the final NOC will also be allowed to be done online and the government is working on it,” said an official of DSFPS.
He said the schools that are complaining about the distance and centralised work in RFO offices did not care to take NOC earlier when reminded multiple times. “Now after strict directives from district education offices, they are doing it under pressure,” said the official.
Explaining the role of the RFO, an official said: “The RFO’s role is prevention of fire and the officer is supposed to check and certify the infrastructure. Firefighting and rescue is the responsibility of local authorities. These authorities are also entitled to issue notice to establishments that do not have NOC.”