Gurugram: Over 300 coaching centres in Gurugram are operating without the mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department, fire officials said on Tuesday. A spot check by Hindustan Times in Sector 14 (Old Gurugram), revealed that not a single coaching centre in the city is safe for students attending them.
The team from HT visited at least 20 such coaching centres and found that none of them had obtained a fire safety NOC.
Many of these centres, however, said they had applied for a NOC from the fire department in 2019, after the tragic Surat fire incident where 20 students were killed and 20 more injured when a commercial complex caught fire. However, no follow-up measures were undertaken either by the institutes concerned or the fire department , they said.
Khushboo Yadav, one of the managers at a NEET coaching centre in Sector 14, said that the staff has no idea about any NOC and they had not applied yet. “No incident has ever taken place in our building. No one has ever complained, we have been operating for the last 10 years and we have never faced any challenges. We have over 900 students visiting every day in different batches but they have been safe and so is the staff,” she said.
One coaching centre, which has six batches running a day, had students studying in a basement room with a single narrow staircase. The staircase can only accommodate one student either to enter or exit. The management of this institute said that they were not aware that they had to take a NOC for running a centre.
Naina Sharma, another manager of a coaching academy in Sector 14, said that she remembers some officials visiting their centre in May 2019 but after that no one ever visited them or asked for any NOC. “Due to acute space crunch, the staircase is narrow. We have utilized maximum space for the classrooms. We set up the centre in 2014, but we do not have an NOC or fire extinguishers so far. We will apply if it is required but someone should approach us,” she said.
This alarming discovery raises serious concerns about the safety standards of coaching centres in Gurugram. Despite the clear risks, the fire department officials said that they did not have any data on the number of coaching centres operational in the city. This lack of oversight highlights a critical gap in the enforcement of fire safety regulations in Gurugram.
Gulshan Kalra, deputy director (technical), Haryana Fire Services, who also holds the charge of deputy director (technical) of the fire station at Sector 29, said that not a single coaching institute, whether functioning from residential or industrial areas, has a valid NOC from the fire department. “This blatant disregard for fire safety norms puts the lives of thousands of students and staff at risk. The absence of fire safety measures, such as functional fire extinguishers and clear evacuation routes, aggravates the danger. We have formed teams that have started visiting the coaching institutes and will check for violations. Based on the visit, notices will be sent to the owners of institutes and we will seal them if they continue to operate without NOCs,” he said.
The recent findings by HT have highlighted the urgent need for stringent fire safety audits and enforcement of regulations in educational institutions. Parents and students are now calling for immediate action to ensure that all coaching centres comply with fire safety norms to prevent any potential disasters.
Rahul Thakran, a student preparing for NEET expressed his concern, “We come here to study and secure our future, but with no fire safety measures in place, we are risking our lives every day. The authorities must take immediate action and ensure the coaching centres are properly built and have proper fire exit doors. After incidents of fire and drowning in coaching centres, our families are worried but we are helpless since we have already paid for the entire year,” he said.
Seema Gupta, mother of a 17-year-old taking classes of JEE Mains said, “I am terrified every time my child goes to these coaching centres. The administration and the police need to ensure that these places are safe for our children. Sector 14 is the only educational hub for coaching and the condition of the buildings is pathetic, there is no maintenance at all. We are helpless since we cannot send the child to Delhi, so this is the best we have,” she said.
The administration’s lack of data and oversight is a major concern, and it is imperative that immediate steps are taken to rectify the situation. The fire department must conduct a comprehensive survey to identify all coaching centres in the city and ensure they meet the required safety standards, demanded parents.
The Gurugram administration has ordered safety audits of all coaching centres in the district and a team was formed on Monday to compile data and visit the sites to check the safety measures in place.
Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the safety and well-being of the students is most important. “Every coaching centre must comply with safety norms to avoid such tragic incidents. The teams are compiling a list of coaching institutes that are operating from basements in the city and we will take strict action against anyone operating illegally,” he said.
