In a knee-jerk reaction to a massive fire at a gaming zone facility in Rajkot that killed scores of people, including children, state govt on Saturday evening directed all eight
municipal corporations
to form committees comprising fire, revenue, engineering, and police officials to conduct urgent inspections at every gaming zone across their respective cities.
The directive comes with clear instructions: seal any unlicensed facilities immediately while assessing
fire safety
measures, exit routes and fitness of installations at these facilities. Govt wants the final action report to be submitted by Monday morning.
All eight municipal corporations — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Junagadh — have been ordered to constitute a committee, including a fire officer, engineers from the civil and mechanical departments of the municipal corporation, an officer from the electricity distribution company, a revenue officer and a city police officer, to carry out searches at
gaming zones
.
In Ahmedabad, deputy municipal commissioner I K Patel said, “A committee headed by the deputy municipal commissioner (fire) Vipul Thakkar has been formed to check all the gaming zones in the city.”
Guided by the state’s directive, these teams are mandated to verify the licencing status of gaming zones.
Any facility found operating without proper permissions will face immediate closure. The directive asks officers to check whether the maximum occupancy at the gaming zone has been defined. “If not, then the maximum occupancy should be immediately determined and displayed prominently at the entrances,” says the directive.
Fire and civil department officers will assess escape routes and fire safety provisions, while the electricity distribution company officers will evaluate power loads and electrical installations. Mechanical engineers will ensure the strength and fit-ness of mechanical installations.
The committee in Ahmedabad began checking recreational facilities on Saturday night and were at the Fun Blast gaming zone at Sindhu Bhavan Road near Gotila garden till reports last came in. In Gandhinagar, the owner of Flash Gaming Zone in Kudasan shut down the facility and fled when our team went there to check the facility, said officials.
Vadodara municipal commissioner Dilip Kumar Rana said that the gaming zones were asked to shut down with immediate effect. “Two committees will examine the safety aspects in the coming days after which a decision regarding reopening them will be taken,” he said.
In Surat, an urgent meeting of civic officials from the infrastructure, health and fire departments was called on Saturday night. Currently, there are 16 registered gaming spots in the city. “We have discussed various aspects of safety and security at gaming zones. Our officials will inspect the spots to check if they have the necessary certification and infrastructure. The inspections will be held swiftly,” said Akshay Pandya, city engineer of Surat Municipal Corporation.
This entire process will be closely supervised by the municipal commissioner, with the report due by 11 am on Monday.
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