Magisterial inquiry recommends action over faulty inspection and fire NOC
PANAJI
While the Directorate of Fire & Emergency Services has often maintained that it has no powers to seal or penalise premises violating fire safety norms, a magisterial inquiry into the fatal fire at Birch by Romeo Lane has pointed to serious lapses within the department, including a recommendation to initiate an inquiry into discrepancies in fire inspections.
“A detailed inquiry to be initiated with regards to the discrepancies in the fire inspection report used to issue NOC to Maizons Lake View Resort situated in survey no. 158/0 of Arpora village and liability be fixed on erring officials,” reads an extract of the 100-odd-page report, submitted to the government recently.
Details accessed by The Goan show that the magisterial report also acknowledged the absence of any penalty or punishment for commercial establishments that fail to obtain a fire No Objection Certificate (NOC). It recommended random checks by the department and its field functionaries, and amendments to the Act to provide for the imposition of heavy penalties for operating commercial establishments without a valid fire NOC.
The committee observed that the 2025 inspection report for the property contained several lapses and did not correctly reflect the property details or water storage requirements.
It further observed that ‘it appears the inspection has not been properly conducted and there were lapses on the part of the inspecting officer’.
“He (IO) failed to ascertain the fire-fighting equipment required for the entire property.... Based on this faulty report, the competent authority has gone ahead and renewed the fire licence without verification,” it said.
The report further noted that panchayat records showed that, in some form or another, a restaurant had been operating on survey number 159/0 since 1996. Several permissions, however, were taken in the name of M/s Maizons Lake View Resort situated on survey number 158/0.
Therefore, when the Fire Department was issuing the NOC on the latter property since 2004, “it is hard to believe that they did not notice a restaurant operating in contiguous connected property without any fire NOC or fire safety equipments since past 20 years.”
This, the report concluded, pointed to a major lapse on the part of the Fire Department.
The committee also observed that the government had vested sufficient powers in the department to take preventive measures to avoid untoward incidents. However, it noted that no attempt or effort was made by the department to exercise these powers against the restaurant, which continued to operate without fire safety measures.
When the inspection report was compared with the inspection reports of previous years, the committee members observed mismatch in the structural description and the amount of water required for the premises.
