Crowded coaching classes in Educational hub Indore - no escape for students during Fire

In a city with crowded coaching classes, is preparation even enough just fire extinguishers? Can hundreds and thousands of students escape through the tiny corridors and only one exit in case of a fire?
We have grown tremendously as an education hub providing one of the best and even affordable education. But are we not responsible for safety of all the children especially those who leave their homes and come to the city to study?

Coaching institutes, where thousands and even lakhs of students from all over the country are studying, lack basic fire safety equipments, preparation and escape routes. This means that in a case of fire, unless really lucky and prepared, most students of the institutes could lose their life.

Since Indore is an educational hub for coaching classes and preparation of competitive examination, this could mean a much worse tragedy than the one recently reported in Surat. In Surat about 23 casualties have been reported out of total 50 students.

In institutes run in the city, where hundreds and even thousands are sitting in a coaching centre, it could mean a much worse disaster.

Indore has large scale coaching classes that own private buildings in various places and even run centres in commercial buildings. There are medium and small scale coaching classes run in apartments, commercial buildings and even penthouse!

In his visit to various coaching classes, Minister for Higher Education, Sports and Youth Affairs of Madhya Pradesh Jitu Patwari found various issues with coaching classes including a visit to a class at Bhawarkaun, where over 600 students were taught in a closed classroom with one small exit.

No emergency evacuation or student training

While large scale coaching centres, where they own the entire building, claim to have all the necessary fire equipments, lack basic fire-escape route. There is only one stair-case and single-entrance in these institutes.

While owners and faculty even claim to organise a training session for educators on use of fire safety equipments, there are no escape training sessions organised for students.

 “We have fire extinguishers outside every two class-rooms for emergency,” Atil Arora, faculty at a renowned institute, said. He added that teachers are trained for use of fire extinguishers as and when required.

“We have one staircase and single entrance, but we have two fire extinguishers on every floor and fire alarms with sprinkler system installed in class-rooms,” Yash Dhoot, managing coordinator at a coaching institute said. He added that sprinkler system automatically ensures student’s safety. The privately owned building has four floors with no emergency evacuation route.

Commercial buildings get Fire NOC without facilities, claim coaching class owners

Crowded coaching classes in South Tukoganj, Bhawarkaun, Geeta Bhawan, Vijay Nagar, Palasia, MG road and Mhow Naka lack any routes to escape for students in case of fire. Other than lack of fire safety equipments, the class-rooms are congested hosting hundreds of students at a time with only one door.

In case of fire, students will have no route to escape and save themselves. Most of these institutes are run in commercial buildings, where many don’t own the centre. Using the lack of facilities in the building as a cover-up, these small and medium coaching class owners and teachers justify lack of fire safety for students.

“Most of running classes here are school teachers or small coaching class owners, so we are just renting a couple of rooms in the building,” representing a group of coaching class owner Rakesh Khanna said. He added that buildings are issued Fire NOC, so we consider it valid.

“It is not an issue in any one building, most commercial buildings suffer from this issue and we have limited options in city for coaching classes,” Khanna said.

Congested coaching centres in penthouses

Running classes in penthouses, many coaching class owners are cutting cost and risking life of students every day. Not bothered by overheating and increased chance of fire, these coaching classes have no emergency evacuation routes, safety equipments, alarms or training to handle the situation.

There are several coaching classes running in penthouses in the city including centres at Bhawarkaun and palasia. The centre at Bhawakaun was visited by Patwari and noted that over 500 students are studying in a closed classroom in a penthouse with no escape evacuation, safety equipments, alarms or even a possibility to escape.

Congestion, no way out during a fire

Former students of coaching classes quote issues faced, which could have taken their life.

“Most coaching classes are run in commercial buildings and these are generally so crowded that we could not even reach a fire extinguisher if there was any,” Gaurav Sharma, IT professional originally from Rewa, said. He came to Indore to study and prepared for JEE through a coaching institute.

“Coaching classes providing good studies are generally smaller, congested, lacking safety facilities and on top floor of commercial buildings,” Arif Khan, banker originally from Harda, said. He had prepared for bank examination in the city and currently stays here.

Fire No Objection Certificate (NOC)

The applicant should acquire fire no objection certificate (noc) to apply for the fire license. The Fire Officer issues the Fire NOC for Madhya Pradesh Fire License under Madhya Pradesh Land Development Rules.

The applicant should comply with the provisions of fire safety measures contained in National Building Court rules. The builder or the owner of the premises is responsible for applying for the fire no objection certificate (NOC) and should comply with all fire safety guidelines before approaching the Fire Officer for the same. It is mandatory that the building work carried out should be covered by the license.

Fire license ensures that businesses are carried out as per the Fire and Rescue Service regulations and that all necessary fire and safety precautions are made according to the same. The procedure to obtain the fire license varies from state to state. In this article, we look at the procedure of obtaining Madhya Pradesh Fire License.