Delhi action on school fire safety
The Delhi city area government, India, has issued a notice to 241 schools for failing fire safety regulations. The action follows a Right to Information query from the Delhi Parents Association which showed that over 30% of Delhi’s 7 000 plus schools did not have valid fire safety certificates. It also follows that Surat coaching centre fire in May this year, in which 22 young people died (pinfa Newsletter n°103). Fire safety failures identified in the 241 targeted schools include inadequate fire-fighting arrangements, out-of-date fire extinguishers, too narrow staircases, insufficient escape doors to classrooms, lack of water reservoirs.