Srinagar: A year after the fire safety audit of buildings at Kashmir University was completed, the varsity administration has failed to implement the audit report recommendations.
The audit was carried out in the wake of a fire incident at varsity’s Zabarwan guest house on February 22 last year.
A day after the incident, the varsity administration had set up a five-member committee to undertake fire safety audit of buildings at the University and recommend safety measures accordingly.
The committee, which had Head, Department of Disaster Management, Chief Proctor KU, Presidents KUTA and KUMSA, and a retired deputy director from the Fire and Emergency Department as its members, submitted the fire safety audit report to the varsity administration in October last year.
However, a year down the line, the KU administration is yet to act on the fire safety recommendations, an official associated with the safety audit told Kashmir Reader.
He said the administration had not set up the paraphernalia recommended in the audit report to minimise damage due to fire incidents.
The committee had recommended changing the electrical wires in the varsity buildings as all the major fire incidents at the university in recent years had taken place due to short-circuiting.
It had also recommended installation of underground water tanks each with a capacity of 30,000 litres near major buildings so as to keep water readily available at the time of emergency.
Besides fire extinguishers, the committee had also asked for installation of fire alarms inside major buildings and high-end ladders inside multi-storey buildings including the Allama Iqbal library.
None of the recommendations have been implemented. An official at the varsity said that the lockdown since August 5 had delayed the implementation.
Concerned officials at KU could not be contacted for comments .
The varsity has seen quite a few major fire incidents in the past decade.
Sheikh-ul-Alam Boys Hostel, one of the oldest buildings in the university, was devastated in a fire in 2009, while Zabarwan guest house went up in flames in February last year.
A building outside the Fine Arts Department and Café Coffee Day at Naseem Bagh was also gutted a few years ago.

Irshad Khan