Patna, Dec. 9: The state’s fire department is like a toothless tiger which roars but cannot bite.

Senior officials at the fire department said several hospitals and nursing homes in the state were functioning without any fire-fighting or preventive measures. But the department has no authority to penalise these institutions owing to the absence of the Bihar Fire Prevention Rule.

“The state, till now, doesn’t have any basic rule or draft law with regard to fire prevention. The draft regarding the Bihar Fire Prevention Rule is stuck. As a result, the department has no authority to take any action against those flouting basic norms regarding fire prevention. We hold inspections based on information, but we send our observations to the Patna Municipal Corporation,” state fire officer Ramesh Chandra told The Telegraph.

Chandra said that in states such as Kerala or Maharashtra, which had in place laws regarding fire safety, the department had the powers to lodge a first information report against those flouting rules.

“The National Building Code of 2005 lays down fire safety norms for all kinds of structures. The architect of a nursing home, the height of which is more than 15 metres, sends the department the map of the building and we do check it and earmark the fire safety requirements. But we don’t know if they are implementing the norms. The department cannot make it mandatory. It is a fact that a lot of hospitals, especially private nursing homes, have no equipment for fire safety. But we cannot do anything about it,” Chandra said.

The official said hospitals and nursing homes should carry out fire drills in their establishments every six months and hold quarterly meetings at which their evacuation plan, if any, should be revised. “Group C of the building code contains a whole list of fire safety regulations for institutional buildings, which includes hospitals and nursing homes. If we get information about any violation, we carry out an inspection. The department prepares a report on it and sends it to PMC,” Chandra said.

He, however, couldn’t say how many inspections had taken place in the last six months.