Kolkata: The West Bengal government has formed a committee to review the effectiveness of existing fire safety systems in restaurants, hotels, factories and buildings.
Chief Secretary Manoj Pant has issued the memo announcing the formation of the committee.
The Committee will be headed by the city’s Mayor, with the state fire and emergency services minister and the city police commissioner as members.
The state-level committee, also looking after the Kolkata municipal area, will also have the housing minister, the disaster and civil defence minister, the panchayat and rural development minister, the additional DGP (law and order) and the municipal commissioner of Kolkata as its members.
The committee will examine whether existing licensing systems need tweaking. It will also prepare guidelines to boost coordination between various departments that issue licenses and permits.
The committee will evaluate the extent of structural deviations from approved building plans and assess compliance with fire safety norms, and suggest remedial measures.
It will also assess the fire safety Infrastructure and operational efficacy of emergency response systems in commercial and industrial establishments.
This state-level committee will submit its report within 30 days. Then district-level committees headed by DMs will have to ensure compliance and submit action-taken reports to the government every month.
