The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), V Citizens Action Network (VCAN) – a leading citizen’s organisation in India, Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini (RMP) – the C20 secretariat, National Federation of Engineers for Electrical Safety (NFE), Savishkar India and several individual experts came together recently to launch ‘Atmanirbhar Suraksha’, a campaign for fire and electrical safety as India progresses swiftly on economic and social development in the Amrit Kaal.
India has made rapid progress in urbanisation in the last two decades and it is expected to gain further momentum. Several reports suggest that India’s urban population size will almost double between 2018 and 2050. The National Commission on Population in India predicts that close to 38.6 percent of Indians (600 million) will live in urban areas by 2036. As urbanisation advances, experts in the country have opined the need to strengthen safety for its citizens especially fire safety given accidental fires occur due to negligence, unplanned structuring of urban buildings, among other factors.
Giving context to the situation, Mr. Rajeev Sharma, Deputy Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) highlighted, “Data from National Crimes Bureau highlights that in the last decade we lost 110,000 lives because of electrocution, that means around 11,000 lives in a year or 30 lives in a day. We come across reports of short circuit incidents almost every day. Lot of damage is caused to human lives and also to property. We cannot allow this to continue for a long time, we have to provide solutions. The solutions have to be workable, and they have to be implemented through a well-organised mechanism.”
Further strengthening the conversation, Mr. Ajit Kumar Jain, IAS, (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Maharashtra and Former State Information Commissioner, said, “The root cause of fire accidents is due to electrical short-circuits and electrical short-circuit take place largely due to poor workmanship and primarily due to the use of sub-standard materials, compounded with a tendency by all of us, as a citizen, to overload the electrical system without understanding the implications.”
“There is a dire need to have convergence between electrical safety and fire safety. The convergence should not be at the grassroot level (only) it should be at the top level also,” Mr. Jain added.
Launching the campaign under the banner of Civil20 India, Mrs. Indrani Malkani, Chairperson, V Citizens Action Network (VCAN) shared, “We have collectively taken a step further and decided that rather than leaving all the checking to the Fire Departments and Municipal Authorities alone to monitor each and every individual property, nothing stops us as citizens and individuals to take charge of our own safety. So, with this in mind VCAN with the Bureau of Indian Standards, NFE, Savishkar India and RMP has launched the campaign of “Atmanirbhar Suraksha” and decided collectively to take forward this message in the coming days, and this journey includes each and every one of you.”
A key part of the campaign will be to promote awareness and the usage of BIS standard compliant products. The standards are already in place; hence the focus of the campaign will be to promote the awareness of these standards among the public and the benefits of their use. Other initiatives taken by BIS on electrical safety will also be highlighted through the campaign. The campaign will also highlight the role of citizens and the steps to be taken at an individual level to ensure one’s own safety. This is not only important in raising awareness for the broader themes of fire and electrical safety, but also promotes the message of “Atmanirbhar Suraksha”.
