World | India
Mumbai multiplexes 'unable to deal with emergencies'
None of the city's multiplexes meet emergency safety norms, according to the findings of a committee appointed by the Maharashtra government to give recommendations on safety measures during an emergency.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 23:30 August 31, 2008
Mumbai: None of the city's multiplexes meet emergency safety norms, according to the findings of a committee appointed by the Maharashtra government to give recommendations on safety measures during an emergency.
The panel has recommended that owners of multiplexes be asked to submit plans on crowd management and evacuation in case of emergencies.
This is important, says the committee, in the face of increased threat perception from terror strikes and bomb explosions as well as fire.
Surveys were carried out in 33 malls, 18 functioning and 15 under construction, that have come up in Mumbai in the past four years. None of them have adequate safety norms.
Falling short
The evacuation of visitors to all these multiplexes would falter in the event of an emergency since there are not enough emergency exits whilst fire extinguishers are not operational.
Recommendations include depositing of visitors' bags outside multiplexes, long passages with openings in between and emergency exits that will not be locked.
The committee has advised eight screens for multiplexes and ruled that all the screens must not go beyond the second floor. Several multiplexes like the Mukund Mall in Kurla, are planning 14 screens.
Moreover, after visiting the site, members of the panel found that though the proposed seating capacity for the multiplexes was 2,000, all entries were through escalators and three lifts.
The panel has advised another entry through the staircase by reducing the number of screens. It has suggested 1.2 metre aisles after every seventh seat and a central holding area for a 250-seat cinema.
"It would be advisable to restrict the seating capacity at these multiplexes to 1,250 for a swift evacuation in the case of an emergency," N.V. Merani, Chairman of the expert committee and retired principal secretary of the Public Works Department, said.
The committee was formed by the government following complaints of violations by multiplexes and was asked to check whether multiplexes were following regulations during construction.
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