Mohali, May 9 -- The Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences and Hospital (civil hospital) in Phase 6, Mohali, has been functioning without a fire no-objection certificate (NOC) for over a year. The NOC of the hospital, which sees nearly 400 patients daily, including those admitted in wards and maternity units, expired in January last year.

Fire officials, wishing not to be named, said the NOC requirement has already been communicated to the institute during multiple meetings. The National Building Code of India, 2016, states that institutional buildings must have a fire hose reel, hydrants, sprinkler system, manual call points, automatic detection systems, a ground-level water storage capacity of 1.5 lakh litres and an overhe...