Still no provision for electrical audits in Maharashtra Fire Act

The fire at One Avighna Park building at Curry Road was due to a short-circuit

Despite a majority of the fire incidents in the city happening due to short-circuits, the Maharashtra Fire Act still does not have a provision for mandatory electrical audits. While drafting a new Act or making amendments to the existing one is a long process, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) and Electrical and Mechanical Department of the BMC have started working on formulating a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for electrical audits in the civic body's establishments like hospitals, schools and ward office buildings.

Of the 48,434 fire incidents from 2008 to 2018, the maximum (32,516 incidents) happened due to short-circuits. Even the primary cause of the fire at One Avighna Park building at Curry Road on Friday was a short-circuit. "Short-circuits occur due to multiple reasons like bad maintenance, poor quality of materials and overloading. Though residents in high-rises usually ensure quality and maintenance, there is very little awareness about proper wiring and electrical systems to deal with overloading. More and more electronic appliances like ACs, music systems, LCDs are added and they require high power. The basic system cannot take the additional load and it leads to a short-circuit and fire," said Rajendra Chaudhari, deputy chief officer (technical) of the MFB. "As fire audits look into aspects like passage space, hurdle-free staircases, status of fire-fighting system; an electric audit can give an idea of the electrical system," said AV Shenoi, activist in the power sector.

At least 15 people were injured in a fire that took place at Dharavi's Shahu Nagar area in August this year. File pics

"There isn't any provision for electrical audits in the Maharashtra Fire Act, as it falls under the Electric Authority. We cannot make electrical audits compulsory unless there is a provision," said Hemant Parab, chief fire officer of MFB. He added, "We are in the process of recommending it as it is the need of the hour. Electrical audits of residential areas is a huge task and a complex procedure, as it involves separate homes and a particular area is not under a single owner. There may be conflicts related to accountability."

"There is a provision of electrical audits under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) regulations 2015 and it is supposed to be implemented by the chief electrical inspector of the state by appointing chartered electrical safety engineers. But the state hasn't implemented it even after six years," said Shenoi. He added that it was important to create awareness among residents as well. There are guidelines for electrical systems in CEA, but usually local electricians, who do not have proper knowledge, do the work, and residents as well as power supply companies neglect electrical systems, he added.

Rules for electrical audits in BMC's structures

After the tragedy at Bhandara hospital claimed the lives of 10 newborns in January, the BMC carried out fire and electrical audits of all civic-run hospitals and improved the fire prevention systems as well. Recently, the civic body decided to install smoke detectors and extractor systems at 16 civic hospitals. The Electrical and Mechanical Department of the BMC and MFB are working on an SOP for electrical audits for civic-run structures, including schools, hospitals, ward offices etc. "In hospitals, new machines and technology increase the load and affect the electricity distribution. It may happen in any structure where new equipment gets added. We are working on an SOP for electrical audits, as it is necessary to prevent fires. It will be ready within the next two to three months. The audits will be done every five years," said Krishna Perekar, chief engineer of the Electrical and Mechanical Department.