Four days ago, we had fire in a high-rise in Bangalore, i.e the Carlton Towers. The fire brigade folks did not reach on time, they did not have equipment (even ladders to reach the fifth floor), no water in the fire hose in the building, the emergency exit doors locked etc. So many reasons were cited for the failure of the civic authorities to enforce the regulations. The cost? 9 lives and still counting. Do you think anything is going to change after this fiasco? Yes, but very little.
First of all, the occupants of the building (most of them) did not know where the stairs were! In fact when I had gone to Carlton Towers sometime ago, I myself found it difficult to locate the stairs and had to ask a lot of people before I located them. None of the occupants knew what to do in case of fire. They did not even bother to ask why the emergency exits were locked in the first place. The reason? indifference. People in Bangalore and most other places in India are plain indifferent. They just don't care till it hits them. Then they want everyone else to care for them.
Secondly, I saw the head of the fire services come on television and point out a lot of problems with the building. If she really likes to do good work, she should visit the public utility building, another commercial landmark in Bangalore, which is owned by the Bangalore City Corporation. It is a 24-floor building and its maintenance is pathetic and that is true with any government building. To make things worse, if the lifts are not working, some floors of the this building become inaccessible because there are no stairs to reach those floors! If there is fire in those floors, then the people who are stuck there can just pray.
Finally, all the agencies (fire, police, electrical folks etc.) are investigating the cause of fire. Any person with common sense can easily see that all they are trying to do is address the symptoms and not the root cause. I am very sure nothing is going to change in the building after all these investigations. Some reports will be produced and they will lie in some corner of the concerned government department and that is it.
In conclusion, whether it is the Carlton Towers fire, German Bakery incident or anything else, the indifference of the people and their representatives will ensure that everyone will forget these incidents very soon and move on. At the most, one more bill may be introduced in the legislature to create more laws, but when enforcement is the issue, what is the point in having more laws?
I agree with the analysis of our situation and also agree that there are very few in the government taking accountability of such events. In my opinion though, our judicial system needs to be straighted at first. The building owners in this event were least bothered to make the building compliant because there are not scared of the implication. Even in the past, there have been many incidents and in most cases the guilty walks free either because the hearing has not coming up or the law is so weak that the guilty could not be punished!
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