Kolkata, Sept. 9 -- With the festive rush building up, the fire department has turned up the heat on safety. The West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services department, on Wednesday, launched a major fire-safety audit of prominent shopping malls and commercial complexes across the city.

The teams that conducted the audit on Wednesday will submit their report on Thursday, following which necessary action will be taken if any lapses are found.

Asked whether any lapses had been detected during the fire-safety audit, Fire and Emergency Services director-general Anuj Sharma said: "They (the teams that conducted the fire safety audit) will submit a report tomorrow (Thursday) and we will take action accordingly."

The enforcement drive comes in the wake of heightened safety scrutiny following two tragic fire incidents that had taken place recently at a hotel in Tarapith of Birbhum and at a hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street, which claimed a total of 18 lives.

With the Durga Puja festival approaching, authorities are taking no chances as footfalls are expected to rise sharply in the shopping malls for pre-festive shopping.

On Wednesday, the fire audit covered 29 high-footfall destinations in the city, including South City Mall, Mani Square, Quest Mall, Acropolis Mall, alongside several large retail outlets like Westside and Pantaloons.

"Our primary goal is to ensure absolute public safety before the festive crowds throng these places. Teams are meticulously checking structural adherence to safety laws, with a special emphasis on multi-storey food courts and restaurants, where commercial gas cylinders and heavy electrical equipment are used," said a senior Fire and Emergency Services department official.

Besides checking whether the prescribed safety measures were in place, officials inspected firefighting equipment, including fire alarms, water sprinklers and fire extinguishers, to ensure they were in working condition.

They also checked whether mall staff were trained to operate the equipment. At some malls, officials inspected underground water reservoirs to verify that adequate water was available and that the pumps were functioning properly to spray water on upper floors in the event of a fire.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.