Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad Development Authority will conduct fire safety audits of all buildings in the city, including highrise apartments, malls and schools, following a major fire at Indirapuram’s Gaur Green Avenue on April 29.Zonal heads have been directed to submit inspection reports within seven days. The audits will cover more than 1,400 housing societies, around 50 malls and 400 schools across the city.“The zonal heads have been directed to come up with an inspection report on violations of fire safety norms in buildings in the city within seven days. RWAs, AOAs and commercial and educational establishments will have to depute volunteers to assist the team in the process,” said GDA secretary Vivek Kumar Mishra.Inspection teams will include fire department officials tasked with examining electrical panels, fire-fighting systems and generators. “Their work will also entail inspection of electric panels, firefighting systems, generators, and to find out whether the installations have been done in accordance with the norms or not,” Mishra added.A committee constituted by the district magistrate, comprising the GDA secretary, ADM Finance and Revenue, and officials from the fire and electrical safety departments, visited Gaur Green Avenue on Saturday to record statements of residents and RWA members. The April 29 fire, which began on the ninth floor, gutted at least eight flats.“The committee has been tasked to find out the cause of the fire and to find out whether movement of fire tenders and relief and evacuation work was in any way hampered. A detailed report will be submitted to the district magistrate shortly,” Mishra said.The fire brought into focus a series of violations of the UP Building Bylaws, 2025. Apartment owners had installed PVC sheet awnings in balconies — combustible material prohibited under fire safety norms. Parked cars had blocked the tower entrance, while a park boundary wall had constricted access further, hampering fire tender movement.The bylaws require a minimum six-metre motorable clearance around buildings at all times, prohibit combustible material in temporary rooftop structures, and restrict balcony construction to heights that do not impede fire tender access. In group housing where the gap between buildings is less than nine metres, balconies are permitted only above six metres for the same reason.Porticos and ramp constructions in high-rise buildings are also barred from obstructing fire tender movement under the same rules.
