20210623 Fire breaks out at Purab Apartments, alarms stay silent
India Jun 23 2021 “Apartment houses” “Building”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Fire breaks out at Purab Apartments, alarms stay silent
Updated: 2021-06-23
MOHALI: Fire broke out at the controversial Purab Premium Apartments on Tuesday but fire alarms and smoke detectors failed to respond. The diesel generator set distribution board went up in flames and two distribution boxes were gutted. However, a major tragedy was averted.
The fire broke out in the distribution boxes on the 11th floor of the B-3 tower at around 10am and which burned for around two hours, said members of Purab Premium Apartment Dwellers Association. “Fire alarm and smoke detectors are fitted but they are dysfunctional.
Gmada put lives of residents at risk. Residents used fire extinguishers to douse the fire on their own. Some of the fire extinguishers were also not working properly,” said Parwinder Singh, an area resident. No loss of life or injury was reported.
Already under scanner for major anomalies, Purab Premium apartments in Mohali was raided by the vigilance team in December last year. The pet project of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has received criticism for poor workmanship.
A Vigilance team visited Purab Premium Apartments after the residents’ association lodged a complaint with the Punjab chief minister, alleging poor infrastructure of flats by GMADA and use of sub-standard material not matching specifications in the brochure.
Members of Purab Premium Apartment Dwellers Association have been fighting for their rights from past several years. Association general secretary Harbhajan Singh said, “The project which was to come up on 117 acres has actually been built on only 37 acres at a prime location, having been sold to a private builder at a hefty price of about Rs 200 crore. GMADA not only failed to complete the project on time but also quality has been compromised.”
He added that after Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh issued directions to the effect, it was announced that all defects would be removed by end of September 2016, but no action has been taken.
In July 2018, a team constituted by General B S Dhaliwal, technical adviser to Punjab chief minister visited Purab Premium apartments. The team was constituted to probe the allegations made by allotees of Purab Premium apartments of poor workmanship in construction of the flats by Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).
Times View Fire alarms that don’t work can prove dangerous, especially in a high-rise. In fact, they are meant to give people an early warning so that they can get outside the building on fire quickly. Lot of advance planning and periodic checking of the working condition of firefighting equipment is required as a fire safety measure, which appears to be lacking in this case. It was only the presence of mind of the building’s occupants that kept a bad situation from becoming worse.
Web Source: The Times of India