Police teams will start visiting hotels, restaurants and pubs in the jurisdiction of their police stations to check for fire preparedness, senior officers said on Saturday.
Officers will check a list of things mandatory for the fire safety of visitors to hotels, restaurants and pubs, and submit a report to the deputy commissioners of police of their respective divisions, police sources said.
“The deputy commissioners of police across all divisions have been instructed to visit hotels, restaurants and pubs and scan the firefighting preparedness with the help of officers from the respective local police stations,” a senior officer said.
“The officers will check and update information on whether the businesses have valid trade and fire licences. They will also collect information about footfall at the establishments.”
At a meeting on Saturday, the officers in charge of at least seven police stations in the city’s east were asked to start visiting hotels, restaurants and pubs in their jurisdictions and drawing up reports.
This will be in addition to scanning for rooftop restaurants operating in their areas, sources said.
“This exercise will solely be conducted by the police, and not with the help of fire department officials. The visiting teams will check if there is a clear layout plan with an area marked for converging in case of an emergency, what the evacuation plan is, if there are separate emergency exits, the condition of stairs and windows,” an officer who attended the meeting said.
Officers of the special investigating team probing Tuesday’s fire at Rituraj Hotel, which killed 14 people, said the preliminary post-mortem reports suggested most of the victims suffocated because of a lack of ventilation since several windows were sealed.
Forensic experts who visited the hotel in their preliminary report mentioned the presence of inflammable items — including plywood and spirits used to polish wooden structures — which contributed to the spread of the fire across the six-storey building.
The police teams have been asked to check if visitors know how to open windows during an emergency, if there are alternative lights to guide guests to stairs during evacuation, and if fire extinguishers are in place.