another fire tragedy in Kolkata

Kolkata is a city that is crumbling apart. Littered with old, unmaintained British architecture and bustling streets with people living in every nook and cranny, tragedies should be inevitable, and when they do happen, there is a lot of talk of change, of rules being followed, and people being punished, and then things go back to the usual till the next tragedy occurs. What is true of Kolkata is true for the rest of the country - safety of buildings and the people inside is just not a concern for the society at large.

After the tragedy at Stephen Court on Park Street where an old heritage building caught fire and it was found out that almost every construction rule was violated such as illegal construction of additional floors, no fire exits, and the doors to the roof-top locked by the owners, this tragedy that occurred at AMRI Hospital took place in a modern super-speciality hospital which, ideally, should have been at the forefront of building safety.

The tragedy with Indian society is that we just don't value life as much as we should. No rules are followed by individuals who live in the cities, who man the buildings, who construct the buildings and those who control the buildings. Once the details become clearer, nobody has any doubt that there will be a long list of rules that the building flouted and hence the tragedy. BusinessWeek calls it India's worst fire tragedy in 7 years, and with 93 lives lost at last count, I still doubt if anybody will wake up. We will blame everybody, like I am, but there is no doubt that things will be back to regular programming sooner than we know it. I suppose it is impossible to enforce rules over a billion people!

The big news was that as soon as the fire broke out, many of the doctors fled the building. Another big news is that many of the fire alarms were turned off so hospital staff could smoke indoors.

The police told HT that several smoke alarms, which were connected to fire-sprinkler devices, had been installed at AMRI hospital.

“But they did not go off on Friday as some doctors and hospital staffers, during their night duty on Thursday, turned off the main switch connecting all smoke alarms so that they could light up indoors,” said an investigating officer on condition of anonymity. The police are now trying to identify the doctors and staffers who habitually deactivated the alarms before smoking.

I don't suppose any of those individuals would have ever thought their seemingly harmless action could lead to such a tragedy, but it did, and I don't think this will be the last time either when fire alarms in modern buildings across the country are turned off because they are either a pain, not deemed necessary, or they get in the way of the people in the building.

Meanwhile, the amazing regularity with which the government gets "wake-up calls" from tragedies would make one believe that governments in India must never be sleeping anymore, but always awake. Unfortunately, that's not true either. There is a system that has to run, and I suppose when apparently the basic premise of this society (I mean the Indian society at large) is still to make money, make ends meet, or get through the day, a lot of the rules and regulations simply take a back seat. I've made this point earlier, and in relation to other regulations as well, such as the environment.

Its like letting the beggar be on the street because at least he is able to get some money. Letting people live in dangerous settings because at least they have a roof. Letting people travel in dangerously overcrowded buses, trains or other public transportation modes because at least they are traveling and adding to the economic output of the country. Let factories burn pollutants in the air because the cost of controlling effluents is high and that will cause undue economic stress on the many who rely on such a factory. So this thought seems to permeate each and every justification of this country to not follow rules. We simply have not been able to get out of the "we are a poor country only hence can't follow rules" mentality.

It is amazing how regularly the same scenarios cause the maximum damage in a fire tragedy. In Uphaar Cinema, the emergency exits were locked shut. The doors to the roof top were locked shut in Stephen Court, and in AMRI Hospital, the basement intended for parking was turned into office space and storage space for flammable material. According the article linked above from Live Mint,

Within 24 hours of the hospital disaster, the fire and emergency department, the state health department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which were responsible for checking and monitoring fire safety, again formed fresh committees for carrying out inspections and pledged to bring the errant to book.

The accident in Amri hospital in Dhakuria area has shown that promises made in the past have not been kept. Amri caught the attention of the fire department for flouting guidelines as early as 29 August.

“A routine inspection showed glaring deviations from norms,” according to a retired fire service official. A basement car park had been converted into a two-tier structure—one accommodating the radiotherapy unit and cubicles for doctors, and the other serving as a godown, crammed with inflammable materials such as chemicals, jerry cans of spirits, oxygen cylinders and wooden furniture.

Moreover, firefighting equipment such as fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and sprinklers were not functioning in the basement.

Despite this, the fire department did not slap a closure notice on the hospital. Instead, it allowed the authorities three months to set their house in order. This deadline expired at the end of November, but no team returned for a follow-up, said the fire service official quoted earlier.

A team from the city’s municipality, which has independent infrastructure and staff to conduct inspections of buildings before renewing trade licences, also looked the other way when they found serious irregularities in the basement, said an official from the building department of KMC who did not want to be identified.

Nobody should be surprised that rules are flouted because the people in charge of ensuring those rules aren't flouted are almost always hand in glove with the perpetrators. However, we know how the system works, and how the government works at all levels, so an aspect that should be shocking to everybody is that when such seemingly professional organizations such as this modern super-speciality hospital flout safety rules, it hints at the general apathy that is deeply set even in the most modern of India's private sector. When such an organization does not want to follow norms on its own accord, then perhaps even the best of governance can't make them, because as its often repeated, its not possible to rule a billion people and keep an eye on each and every regulation by the government. Most times, the people have to step up to regulate themselves, and unfortunately, the Indian society is incapable of doing so.

This editorial in the Hindustan Times raises the same valid points.

The AMRI incident has proved that money alone can’t buy safety in India. The second-floor cabins that were affected by the fire there did not come cheap for patients: they have a hefty tag of Rs9,000 a day. Moreover, unlike in government hospitals, there was no funds crunch at AMRI. Then why was there no emergency staff on duty or any evacuation plan? It is now clear that there was no chain-of-command that could have taken quick decisions during the emergency. So while the patients suffocated and choked to death, there was no one to give out the basic order of calling the fire brigade. Now that the tragedy has happened, the law will take its course and the case will go on for a while.

So while the laws of the land will follow the slow path to justice, the basic problems of cracking urban housing, poor and unscientific construction and a general attitude among the population of cutting corners and getting more bang for the buck will remain. So like we say after a terrorist attack - lets wait for the next tragedy. Statistically, we're still doing well per thousand Indians, so bring on the tragedies! Bah, even sarcasm doesn't feel nice at this point.