Fire Safety Act to burn laxity soon

AHMEDABAD: The state government has issued a notification that the new, stringent Fire Safety Act will be implemented from March, two months after considering objections from people.
The advocate-general on Tuesday placed before the Gujarat high court the notification issued on Monday by the Urban Housing and Urban Development Department.
It contained draft rules proposed under the Gujarat Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act-2013.The government submitted that the rules would come into effect 60 days after inviting and considering objections from citizens.
The state government was forced to come up with the new Fire Safety Act after a PIL was filed by Prakash Nambiar through advocate Amit Panchal. The petitioner had demanded proper implementation of the directions issued by the high court earlier for execution of building bye-laws.
The new law provides for collection of fire tax from all buildings.
Anybody who fails to pay fire tax along with municipal taxes can be punished with a minimum penalty of Rs 25,000. The fire tax will be levied as per the size and usage of the building or structure - from 1% to 4% of the property tax.
In the case of large structures like malls, there will be 4% fire tax over and above the total property tax.
Besides taxation, the occupiers of the buildings will be responsible for maintaining fire safety systems, or else they will be liable for prosecution. Disconnection of water and electricity lines is not the only threat that the owner or occupier faces in case of cancellation of fire NOC.
The new law provides that such owner or occupier will not be able to occupy the building or premises on the grounds of non-compliance with fire safety measures, sources said.