Bhubaneswar: Big shopping malls in the city do not have basic fire prevention and safety equipment installed on their premises. Fire service officials carried out simultaneous raids at city shopping malls Saturday. Ten teams led by senior fire service officers inspected the preparedness and fire safety arrangements installed in these malls.
“Inspections broadly revealed that many malls did not have comprehensive fire safety measures,” told a release issued by the raid teams. The raids discovered that some of the malls had fixed only fire extinguishers. They were advised to install other required equipment as soon as possible. The blocked open spaces, corridors and other escape routes in them could endanger the lives of the common man.
“Moreover, most of the shopping malls do not have adequate exit signages to lead occupants to safe places in case of an emergency,” the release said. The malls also lacked proper maintenance, orderliness and general care necessary to avoid fire hazards.
The eight shopping complexes that were found to be defaulters includes Maruti Malls at Nandankanan road, The World shopping malls at Khandagiri and Jayadev Vihar, Forum Mart at Kharavela Nagar, Pantaloons at Sahid Nagar, Pal Heights at Jayadev Vihar and the newly opened Big Bazar at Nayapalli.
PNN
