MARGAO
Are the Margao municipal markets -- the bustling and congested New Market and the Gandhi Market, fireproof?
Have these markets adhered to the fire safety and prevention measures recommended by the Directorate of Fire Services, or do the fire safety measures not figure in the priority list of the Margao Municipal Council and the powers that be controlling the civic body, when these municipal markets have been prone to fire incidents?
These questions assume significance in light of the recent tragic fire incidents at Rajkot, Gujarat and in the national capital, leaving many people dead. These questions further assume significance and come against the background of the raging fire that had engulfed the New Market on December 26, 2023, destroying a couple of shops, with traders and citizens and the Margao MLA Digambar Kamat demanding implementation of fire safety measures in the municipal markets.
Exactly five months down the line, many a question remain unanswered, including the moot question of whether the exercise initiated by the South Goa District Disaster Cell has yielded any result?
Even assuming that officials of the District Disaster Cell were all preoccupied with the intervening Lok Sabha elections, district officials said nothing had prevented the Margao civic body from implementing the host of fire safety and prevention measures recommended by the Fire Services.
MMC Chief Officer Gaurish Sankhwalkar is on leave, but a senior civic official said no progress has been made since the December 26 fire in the New Market, other than conducting inspections and meetings by the disaster management cell with government agencies, including the Margao municipality.
In fact, the senior MMC official was candid in admitting that nothing has changed in the markets since the fire incident had left the New Market susceptible to fire incidents. “We are told the power department has completed the survey of the shops in the two municipal markets to check the load situation. As far as implementing the fire safety measures is concerned, the exercise has hit a dead end. Maybe the civic officials are looking at the district disaster management cell to get the recommendations implemented for obvious reasons,” the official said.
He added: “The joint inspection had identified the pick-up stand area to house the overhead emergency water tank and to tone up the fire hydrants around the municipal markets. Maybe the exercise could not be taken to the logical conclusion in view of the intervening election code of conduct.”
Fire Services recommendations unheeded, markets risk disaster
Have the recommendations made by Deputy Director of Fire Services, Rajan Haldankar to tone up the fire safety and prevention measures in the Margao municipal markets brought any change in the ground reality in the two markets?
A dedicated water line, fire hydrants, construction of overhead tanks, and installation of fire extinguishers by the shops and establishments et all were all recommended by the fire services to the Margao municipality post the December 26, 2023 fire incident.
Inquiries by The Goan revealed that hardly any of the recommendations have fallen into place. Take for instance the fire hydrants. PWD officials informed that a proposal to lay a dedicated water line and fire hydrants in the municipal markets was prepared and sent to the head office long ago. The process is expected to be carried forward only after the election code of conduct is lifted after June 4.
The fate of the overhead water tank proposed at the pick-up stand remains unknown. The Fire services had recommended exit requirements, i.e. every exit, exit access or exit discharge shall be continuously maintained free from all obstruction or impediment to full use in case of a fire or other emergency. It said the internal passage in both the markets shall provide continuous means of aggress to the exterior open space leading to a street. It was further recommended that the exits shall be clearly visible and the route to reach the exit shall be clearly marked and signs pasted to guide the occupants in the market. The signs shall be illuminated and wired to an independent electrical circuit on an alternated source of power supply. Besides, it was recommended that all the internal passages in both New Market and Gandhi Market shall be kept free from all obstructions to carry the firefighting equipment in an emergency inside the market.
The ground reality, however, seemed starkly different in the markets with the Margao municipality apparently in no mood to implement the fire safety measures for reasons best known to the city fathers and the civic officials.
First aid fire extinguisher: The licensing authority shall mandatorily emphasise the shop owners to provide a minimum of two first aid fire extinguishers, preferably ABC-type extinguisher of 4 kgs capacity for shop fire and CO2 type fire extinguisher of 2 kgs capacity for electrical fire in each shop in the market premises as fire precautionary measure.
