Gujarat: Mismatch in fire NOC figures pointed out

AHMEDABAD: During the time when the authorities claimed that they were on a drive ensuring fire safety measures in buildings, an increase was witnessed in the number of buildings which lack the No Objection Certificate (NOC) that is to be issued by the fire department.
During the hearing before the Gujarat high court on Friday, petitioner-advocate Amit Panchal highlighted the discrepancy in the figures that the authorities supplied to the court.The information was placed before the court by eight municipal corporations and six fire regional officers pertaining to all cities and municipalities.

By citing various affidavits filed by the AMC on different dates, the petitioner submitted that the city had 646 highrise residential buildings out of 1,800 such buildings which did not have valid fire NOC as on February 22. During a hearing, the HC insisted on specific figures on highrise buildings. On June 1, AMC submitted that 1,876 out of 3,165 highrise residential buildings lacked fire NOC.
Similarly, AMC stated on February 22 that all 600 schools and colleges were fire safe. On March 31, it said that 1,292 buildings out of total 2,395 school/college buildings did not have fire NOC.
The number of defaulting buildings in this category increased to 1,353 on June 1.