India, Sept. 21 -- There is something reassuring about seeing civic officials leave their offices, visit establishments, inspect documents and equipment, and take action when they find violations. But there is also something deeply uncomfortable about what those inspections are revealing.

Over the past few days, the Pune Municipal Corporation's fire department has acted against PG accommodations, hostels, coaching classes, study centres, gyms and, now, scrap shops and godowns. The action is being conducted against the backdrop of the fire incident in Delhi.

In many cases, officials have found establishments without fire-fighting systems while in some cases there were questions over building permissions, electricity connections, drainage...