Times
of India: New Delhi: Monday, 23 March 2015.
Even as a
part of Parliament shot up in flames on Sunday, the Delhi fire department had
admitted that the building faced serious fire hazard less than four months
earlier. In response to an RTI query, the fire department said the Parliament
building was last inspected in 2013 when several shortcomings were found. The
response prompted the Central Information Commission to pull up the department
and seek remedial action.
In an order
passed in November 2014, the CIC took a serious view of the fact that the last
fire safety inspection of Supreme Court was done in 2004 and that for
Parliament was done in 2013. Information commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu had
said, "The commission feels that the respondent authority should have
taken sufficient initiative to enforce all safety guidelines in Parliament and
Supreme Court buildings by apprising the authorities in legislature and
judiciary about the need of immediate action, instead of waiting nearly for a
decade, perhaps with the hesitation not to cause embarrassment to higher
authorities," he said.
In a 10-page
order, Acharyulu had directed the chief of Delhi Fire Service to take
"serious note" of safety "lapses" in the buildings housing
the SC and Parliament. While some measures were carried out by SC, it is
unclear if Parliament took precautions.
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