Civic body must realise prevention is better than cure

This picture has been used for representational purpose

Another fire in the city has claimed nine lives. This time in a makeshift hospital set up inside a mall, necessitated by the pandemic situation. And, the civic authorities gave us the usual spiel about instituting an enquiry to find out exactly who is at fault. No one till date has ever been told who exactly is at fault over any major fire at a public place in the city. Enquiries take months to conclude and conclusions are vaguely worded, leaving more questions than answers.

Honestly, who is really at fault is a no-brainer. Who permits hospitals to be set up inside malls or empty buildings or open grounds? Who is supposed to ensure fire and other compliances are 100 per cent met at hospitals, malls, restaurants, hotels and cinema houses? Who is supposed to make periodic inspections of safety measures being in place? The civic body.

So the authorities can save citizens the shock-and-awe act and start taking the full blame for such catastrophes. And, start taking remedial measures at once. Considering that BMC has a website, all periodic checks at major public places should be put up online for the public to access. It is the people's lives at stake so, all malls, hospitals and cinema houses need to have their fire compliance certificates put up at prominent places on the premises, with the date it has been checked and the name of the person or people who checked it.

There is no point handing out monetary compensation for lives lost when it takes far less to just ensure these catastrophes never happen.

And, as citizens when was the last time we bothered to check if safety compliances were in place? When have we visited a mall or cinema hall and checked if fire exits really work? Have we asked the staff there when was the last time the water hoses or fire extinguishers were checked? We need to start asking questions, too. Blame works both ways.