The Mumbai Fire Brigade will no longer hire private contractors to issue fire approvals for new buildings, in a move aimed at curbing corruption. Until now, private contractors and consultants were hired to issue fire sanctions for new buildings below 32mts, or up to 10 storeys.
However, the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act, 2023, has been amended to eliminate the use of their services. Instead, 23 Assistant Divisional Fire Officers (ADFOs) will now have the authority to issue preliminary fire safety sanctions and final fire No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) for new buildings. Currently, buildings above 32mt receive fire sanctions from deputy chief fire officers and other senior fire officials.
Dr Amit Saini, additional municipal commissioner, explained, “With the new fire regulations in place, private consultants previously hired by the Mumbai Fire Brigade to review and approve fire safety measures have been replaced by ADFOs. This shift will benefit the BMC by eliminating corruption and discrepancies in the issuing of sanctions and fire NOCs. The amendment was made two months ago, and we have begun implementing it.”
A senior fire official said that following the amendment, contracts with the 23 private contractors who had been hired have been cancelled. These private contractors were often retired fire officers or engineers, mechanical or civil and had been contracted to issue fire approvals under the Ease of Doing Business initiative.
When a new building is under construction, it must receive both provisional and final fire safety approvals. These approvals will henceforth be issued by ADFOs, who will also approve building plans and issue permits, according to the senior official. Sources revealed that the fixed fees charged by private contractors for permits had led to corruption.
“Some contractors lacked knowledge of architecture but were still issuing approvals. After reviewing the process and interviewing private life safety auditors, we identified numerous discrepancies. A report was prepared highlighting these issues, and we decided to assign this responsibility to ADFOs,” said the senior fire official.
