The fire at the capital city's Kadamba Transport Corporation bus stand, should ideally have served as an eye opener to the various authorities about the risk their negligence poses to the lives of the general public. However, this event, like the previous events that preceded it, and which have claimed life, limb and property, will only be met with verbal commitments to review and improve the situation, tighten laws and enforcement.
Sadly, the bottom line is, that unless safety becomes part of our culture, events like this will keep happening.
That safety is not part of our culture is clearly demonstrated by the sheer number of people to merrily ride around without helmets, violate traffic laws with impunity including driving on the wrong side of a road in the fast lane, texting while driving and yelling at those who seek to reprimand you for your carelessness.
Fire safety is no different. One needs to look no further than the Goa Secretariat and assembly complex. Fire officers confide that ahead of every session, they are asked to submit a report on the fire readiness of the assembly and secretariat complex and every session they submit a report that the fire fighting equipment isn't in functioning condition. The pipes are leaking leading to the pumps that maintain the pressure in the fire hydrants to fail.
These reports have been continuously hushed up and life has gone on in the misplaced confidence that just because something is unlikely to happen, it won't happen. The less said about older government offices the better. If the seat of government itself isn't taking fire readiness with the seriousness it deserves, what can one expect of other government offices?
Fire safety drills are a regular feature in both private and public establishments in developed countries. Not so here, and this latest fire incident is unlikely to change that. It is unlikely that had the tragedy been even more severe it would have changed things.
In a large part, the fact that the powers of the Directorate of Fire and Emergency Services is curtailed is part of the problem. The Fire Department needs to have the power to revoke occupancy certificates for buildings that do not comply with fire safety standards. Currently the fire safety audit is completed at the time of construction at which stage the certification is granted. However once the licence is granted, safety is binned and life goes on.
Between now and the next fire event, expect a blame game, finger pointing and analysis of what went wrong. But certainly do not expect anyone to take responsibility for what has happened.
