The civic authorities have relaxed fire safety requirements for trade licence renewal under pressure from unions.

Over 70,000 traders dealing in clothes and bedding have been exempted from producing the fire clearance certificate while renewing their trade licences.

The norms were relaxed despite the new licence policy being chalked out by the civic body in consultation with the fire brigade and police after the 100-hour Nandaram Market fire and the blaze at a Sodepur garment store that killed 12 people.

There are 206 categories of trade and events for which the Calcutta Municipal Corporation issues licences. In May, the authorities announced the new licence policy that made the fire service clearance mandatory for 18 categories of trade. The decision affected about 1.5 lakh of the over 4.2 lakh-plus licensed traders in Calcutta.

“Fire safety norms are likely to be relaxed for some other trades because of political pressure,” said a senior licence inspector.

“Before imposing restrictions, the civic authorities must remember that trade provides bread and butter to over 20 lakh people in the city. Most of the old shops cannot satisfy stringent fire safety norms suddenly imposed by the CMC,” said Amalendu Bhattacharya, a Citu leader of a civic workers’ union.

The Federation of Traders’ Organisation (FTO) also staged a demonstration outside the civic headquarters last week demanding immediate de-linking of trade licence renewal from the fire clearance certificate.

“We are considering a proposal to relax fire safety norms for those who have shops in old private markets,” said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay. The proposal is being discussed with the fire brigade, he added.

“We are not against fire safety norms but they should be imposed only on trades where fire is used, such as eateries, hotels and sweet shops, or where inflammable articles are stored,” said FTO president Tarak Nath Trivedi.

“Traders raise a hue and cry when fire safety norms are imposed but when a fire breaks out in a market, they hold the CMC responsible,” said Bandyopadhyay.