A fire broke out on seven-storey Carlton Towers on the Old Airport Road. Tuesday’s fire at the Carlton Towers Bangalore has once again brought into focus safety in high-rise buildings and the responsibilities of the owners/occupants concerned.
“Tuesday’s fire at Carlton Towers was due to negligence and was a violation of human rights.” said The Karnataka Human Rights Commissioner (SHRC) S R Nayak. “It was noticed that the common passage was constructed illegaly and we also suspect that there is deviation from the building plan and violation of building norms,” added Nayak.
Post-mortem reports on Wednesday confirmed what had been preliminary suspicions, that eight of the nine deaths due to the Carlton fire were caused by head injuries and only one by asphyxiation.
The building plan violations made fire-fighting difficult.The fire alarm didn’t go off. The sprinklers didn’t work because there was no water. The fire exits were locked. Nothing seems to have worked when the flames struck at cables in the duct beside the ground-floor lift. An opening, left unsealed on the top floors led to the smoke spreading, causing panic. This is a common violation in many high-rises.On some floors, the passage connecting the two staircases on either sides of the building was blocked. Advertisement hoardings and minor construction on the premises hindered the movement of fire engines.
“We don’t have the powers to undertake frequent inspections of fire safety measures.We gave the clearance in 1999. The owner has sold it room-wise and floor-wise. The [present] owners have the collective responsibility of adhering to the safety norms.We could not use the turntable ladders to evacuate people as the fire engines carrying them were stuck in traffic. Our men were injured by the glass facade being broken by those in the building.” Said B.G. Chengappa, Director, Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services.