Why in news?
- A late night fire in a roof-top restaurant in Mumbai killed 14 people.
- This calls for a thorough probe and stricter enforcement of safety regulations.
How can such situations be dealt?
- Current Case - Ensuring the accountability of owners, managers, and agencies concerned and punishing for those guilty should be a high priority.
- It would be wrong to categorise deliberate acts as instances of mere negligence as there seems to be intentional safety violations.
- Further, immediate monetary compensation and other forms of support is to be provided to the families of the dead and the injured.
- Holistic picture - While the rooftop restaurant fire killed 14 people, a week earlier 12 people were killed in an industrial fire accident.
- Increasing frequency of such incidences is proving to become a catastrophe and enhancing the safety of building is now a pressing compulsion.
- A full-fledged crackdown is hence needed to determine all building safety violations in Mumbai and official connivances needs to be penalised.
What are the expectations from the trial?
- A professional analysis of fire tragedies involves assessing whether:
- Possibility of igniting was actively reduced
- Provision was made for controlling the spread of fire and smoke
- Design was compatible for occupant escape and fire-fighter access
- Structure was potent to avoid a collapse
- Hence, the Maharashtra government must ensure that its inquiry captures all these parameters and that the subsequent judicial process is not prolonged.
- Ensuring a robust prosecution and invoking stringent provisions against the guilty are important to win people’s trust in the state machinery.
What are the troubling realities?
- The absence of strong laws, accompanied by slow criminal justice processes has made a mockery of justice.
- Rampant bureaucratic and political corruption has also contributed to the brazen violation of building norms.
- Sadly, a system of special schemes to regularise buildings with such violations for a fee is also noticeable, which is tantamount to legalising death traps.
- Also, many court orders issued to ensure public safety remain mostly on paper.
- On the whole, these issues have to be dealt with in its entirety to ensure a safer nation with reduced risks from manmade tragedies.
Source: The Hindu
