City blaze: Industry body for better infra, fire safety steps

Mumbai, Dec 29 (PTI) Following the devastating firethat burned out 14 lives in earlier in the day, hotels andrestaurants associations today admitted that there a need forbetter infrastructure, particularly for fire safety."The Mumbai fire incident reiterates the need forimproving infrastructure conditions, in particular firesafety," National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI)president Rahul Singh said in a statement.The association will continue to engage with thestates on how best to improve the fire safety measures so asto prevent such type of recurrences in future, he added."As an immediate step, we are convening a meeting toexplore possible avenues for improving and strengthening firesafety measures in our sector," Singh said.On a long-term basis, the association will beexploring the possibility of launching a programme to addressoccupational safety and health conditions, including adequatefire safety and training mechanisms, he said."We also hope to learn from the conclusions reached bythe different government committees instituted to investigatethis particular fire incident," he added.Echoing a similar view, the Hotel and RestaurantAssociation of Western India president Dilip Datwani told PTIthat the association will issue an immediate advisory for allits members and other stakeholders to do self-audits and takeprecautionary measures, including checking electricalequipments, to avoid such tragedy in future.He also said it is always not fair to blame the civicauthority BMC, as many establishments indulge in manyadditions after getting the no objection certificate."We are very strict and before adding any new members we ensure they have all licences are in place. Our committee members also conduct inspection of the outlets," he said. PTI

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