Fire and emergency service department strict on hotels and restaurants, property sealed for not renewing NOC.

AHMEDABAD: The Fire and Emergency Services Department has sealed 13 restaurants and hotels for no response from them even after sending reminders regarding renewal of Fire Safety No Objection Certificate (NOC) to hotel and restaurant owners. Officials said the move comes after reminders sent to these establishments were repeatedly ignored.“The department had reminded them to renew their fire safety permissions and also issued a number of notices to the managements but they did not pay any heed. Finally, we issued closure notices and sealed 13 such restaurants and hotels on Wednesday,” Rajesh Bhatt, additional chief fire officer, said.Most of these establishments are located in areas falling under AMC’s south west zone. “Six restaurants and hotels are located in Satellite, Prahladnagar, Manekbaug and SG Highway which falls under south west zone, while five of them are located in Navrangpura, Chandkheda, and Koba highway areas that fall under west zone,” the official said. On September 3, the fire department had slapped final notices on nine hospitals whose fire safety NOCs had expired on August 31. It had warned the managements of punitive action if they did not renew their fire permits within a week. Eight patients had lost their lives when a major fire broke out at Shrey Hospital in Navrangpura on August 6 last year.“We will continue to carry out stringent action against any commercial establishment that does not comply with fire safety rules. These are places where people gather in large numbers. They cannot play with people’s lives,” said the official