The city may have lived through a fire tragedy on the scale of Carlton Towers, which claimed nine lives, but it seems to have taught nothing to the powers-that-be. The Vidhana Soudha, where all-important state business is conducted, does not have smoke detectors or wet risers and its fire extinguishing equipment has not been serviced since it was installed. Worse, the staff has no clue what is expected of it in case of a fire.
The poor fire safety measures in Vidhana Soudha were discovered during an inspection by a team of the fire and emergency department on Thursday, and issues concerning it were raised with the Vidhana Soudha police and DPAR officials. In a telling comment on government indifference to fire safety the many recommendations of the fire and emergency department for upgrading fire safety in its buildings post -Carlton Towers, have been ignored.
“It has now been decided to conducted fire safety awareness programmes for VS staff. But first we want our recommendations made last year to be implemented. All fire safety equipment needs to be serviced and housekeeping personnel must be taught how to use it in an emergency,” said a member of the visiting team, which was also unhappy with the number of emergency exits in the building and has strongly suggested that they be increased to cater to the large numbers frequenting it during legislature sessions.