PANJIM: The massive fire at Kadamba bus stand early Monday morning has exposed blatant violations of fire safety standards at the bus terminus.
It has brought to the fore that the entire structure housing the Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited’s (KTCL) branch office, RTO Panjim, railway ticketing counter, canteen, supermarket and a number of shops, did not have even the basic fire safety measures in place.
Herald’s visit to the site, after a team of firefighters battled the fire for over four hours, revealed that neither any offices nor any commercial establishments were fitted with fire protection gear like fire extinguishers, fire hoses, sprinklers or other safety equipment.
Directorate of Fire & Emergency Services has confirmed that the concerned authorities violated the safety standard procedures. “No establishment at the bus stand has fire protection measures,” Director Ashok Menon told Herald.
The department officials will now be conducting an audit of the premises and later submit a report to the State government for action. “The report is expected to be complete and submitted to the government in the next one-two days,” the officer asserted.
It is learnt that the report will point out lapses by the authorities in ensuring fire protection standards and recommendations on how to thwart possible incidents of fire in the future.
Being a public holiday, Monday saw fewer passengers at the bus stand, which on working days handles thousands of local and inter-state bus passengers besides shoppers.
One of the shopkeepers, conceding that his establishment is ill-equipped with fire safety equipment, said some shops were to open later in the morning due to the holiday. “It’s a small shop so I never felt the need for a fire extinguisher but now knowing the condition of the bus stand, I will ensure abiding by the safety procedures. There are several shops that do not have these things in place,” he said.
He added, “Some of us had decided to start business late since it’s a holiday and there wouldn’t be a crowd whereas some decided to remain shut.”
A co-proprietor of an eatery stall, requesting not to be named, admitted to the absence of fire equipments while also pointing at dangerously hung and old electrical wires in the area.
The Kadamba Tenants Association has said that the management had been on the job to replace the old wirings with new ones. On the fire mishap, the spokesperson said that although it seemed to be due to short circuit, they suspect foul. “We appeal to Goa Police to investigate the incident because we suspect foul play particularly from 10.30pm on Sunday. Let police probe,” he said.
