Safety during festive season: Fire dept inspecting Prayagraj Durga Puja Pandals

Fire department officials are carrying out stringent inspections of Durga Puja Pandals coming up in Sangam city. Fire officials have asked managing committees of all Barwaris to ensure that fire safety norms and guidelines are followed strictly to avoid any untoward incident during the festive season.

During the last few days, fire department teams carried out intensive checking across the city and even in Naini, Meja, Koroan, Bara, Phapahmau, Nawabganj, Mauaima, Handia etc where Pandals are being set up for Durga Puja and Ramleela.

Fire department teams took information about safety measures taken at the Pandals. The committees and organisers were asked to set up Pandals following set guidelines and ensure all arrangements for safety.

Committees and organisers often ignore fire safety norms and no measures are taken to counter any emergency situation like outbreak of fire. Besides lighting of Diyas at these Pandals, many times firecrackers are also used which increases risk of mishaps. Moreover, wires and circuits for lighting purposes also pose a threat of fire.

Chief fire officer Dr RK Pandey said a drum with a capacity of 200 litres of water, four buckets of sand and four fire extinguishers are must at each Pandal. Moreover, the committees and organisers have been asked to get an electricity safety audit certificate from the power safety department for getting NOC from the fire department, he added.

Other parameters set for setting up Pandals or temporary shade as per IS 8758-1993 for fire safety includes that no synthetic material, cloth or rope should be used for making Pandals and instead manila rope, coconut and cotton cloth should be used, the height of the Pandals should not be less than 3 meters, and should have an open space of 4.5 meters around it so that people can easily exit

Pandals should not be under electricity wires, and should be set up at a distance of 15 meters from railway line, power substation, brick kiln etc. The exit gate of the Pandal should be 5 meters wide and have a height of 3 meters. There should be two exits in opposite directions and exits should not be cave like. Chairs should be fixed to the ground as they fall in case of stampedes and block the way. The electricity work at Pandals should be carried out only by licence holder contractors and wires should not be cut or open under any circumstances and porcelain connectors should be used, the guidelines state.

A container with 0.75 litres of water should be kept at each square meter at the pandals which should be used only during emergencies. A carbon dioxide gas extinguisher or dry chemical powder extinguisher should be kept near the stage, switchgear and main meter, Kitchen should be made at a distance from the main pandals and no fireworks should be used, Boards should be put up at pandals restricting smoking etc.