24-metres height buildings exempted from fire NoC

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Here is good news the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has exempted buildings of 24 metres in height from obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire Brigade section under the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR), 2020. Earlier, it was mandatory to obtain fire NoC for buildings of height 15 metres and above, said the municipal commissioner G Sreekanth.

The CSMC authorities and the office-bearers of CREDAI and The Indian Institute of Architects - IIA (local chapters) held a meeting at the Smart City Office on Monday. CREDAI’s president Vikas Chaudhary and secretary Rohit Suryawanshi, IIA’s president Sunil Bhale, Deepak Deshpande, Sanjay Pathe and Sachin Sangshetty were present at the meeting.

At the outset, the discussion was held at length on the issues related to the Town Planning (TP) section, in the meeting. The members explained in detail how the harassment is meted out to them by the Fire Brigade section officials while obtaining Building Permissions (BP).

The state government has drafted UDCPR and set new norms regarding the construction in 2020. Hence there is no need for Fire NoC to the buildings till the height of 24 metres. It is pointed out that the CSMC collects NoC as per the old Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Rules - 2009. Above all, the building owner has to crack hard nuts in procuring the NoC. It is not available easily, they pin-pointed to the civic chief. There is a condition that the builders must install a giant water tank having the capacity to store 1 lakh litre or more water at the planned site. Besides, the fire-fighting equipment has also to be installed in the building to douse the fire. This heavy expense proves burdensome for them, the members stressed adding that the major question is from where the citizens would arrange for 1 lakh litres of water in an emergency.

The CSMC has fixed the NoC charges to Rs 50,000. Besides, the CSMC administrator has also instructed the civic authorities that there is no need for fire NoC till 24 metres, said the IIA office-bearers.

The drafting of the Integrated City Development Plan is underway, therefore, the discussion on it was not held.

As per the old development plan, the municipal corporation should do the marking of 24 metres and 36 metres wide development plan (DP) roads. The citizens will also be able to know the real width of the roads. The civic chief assured of informing them after deciding whether the work should be implemented by a private agency or by CSMC officials.