The evening of 23 February, 2010, etched a dark mark on Bengaluru’s history. A major fire broke out in Carlton Towers, a high-rise office complex, claiming nine lives and injuring at least 70 others. “The Carton Towers tragedy is something that I can never forget,” says Uday Vijayan, who lost his son in the tragic fire incident.
As a parent, Uday found himself haunted by the question: “Why did this happen to me?” To get answers, he and his friends met the fire department director in Bengaluru.
“The only call that we got that day was from your son,” the director told Uday. Akhil Uday was able to save many lives during the Carlton fire accident, but it was unfortunate that he could not save himself.
These words, etched in Uday’s memory, pushed him to establish Beyond Carlton a few months after the incident. Beyond Carlton is a citizen-led non-profit organisation primarily focusing on creating awareness regarding fire safety and ensuring that every building has necessary measures installed.
In 2011, the group filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Karnataka High Court , requesting for mandatory inspections of high rise apartments (15 m and above) in the city. The court passed necessary orders instructing the Karnataka Government to implement the same. A notification to re-inspect the No Objection Certificate (NOC) every two years was also implemented. Functioning on three pillars — accountability, awareness, and advocacy — their efforts provided a different lens regarding fire safety in the state.
Uday and his team’s efforts also saw the sanctioning of funds for firefighters to have a separate fire inspection department to investigate when a fire incident occurs. This was crucial because it allowed firefighters to access the accident zone sooner, enabling them to investigate and determine the cause of such catastrophes.
Building a fire-safe Bengaluru
In 2018, the Karnataka Government planned to develop blueprints to tackle multiple issues in the city. “Beyond Carlton wanted to do something related to fire safety as nobody considered fire a crucial matter,” shares Uday. The group, along with Janaagraha, an NGO, and the Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services, came up with a blueprint focused on three elements — capacity building, regulation and compliance, and awareness creation — to eliminate fire accidents in the city aimed at making the city 100% fire-safe!
“Our blueprint was ambitious, but every plan had to be to achieve at least 50% of what we had envisioned,” says Gopal Devanahalli, a trustee who had lost one of his friends in the Carton tragedy. Beyond Carlton’s fire safety blueprint was implemented.
“Not a lot of people are aware of how to act when there is a fire. Through our awareness workshops in association with estate managers and the Bengaluru Apartment Federation, we can educate people about the necessary measures,” Gopal shared.
“We all had previous corporate experience, which helped us make strategic decisions on the data collected by the fire department,” Uday adds.
One of the main issues the team identified was the involvement of multiple departments and government authorities in a fire accident. “Most of the fire accidents happen due to short-circuiting, which comes under the control of BESCOM,” Venkitachalam, a trustee, elaborates. Building owners, citizens, BBMP, NDRF, police, and fire departments are others involved, to name a few.
In the 10 years following the fire tragedy, Beyond Carlton’s efforts have seen several crucial measures being implemented in Bengaluru. High-rise buildings are now equipped with better fire safety measures, such as appropriate placements of fire extinguishers, unobstructed emergency exits, and unlocked emergency staircases. Most importantly, citizens have realised their part in prioritising fire safety and are more aware.
Currently, the organisation is working on Blueprint 2.0, a revised version of the previous plan that Beyond Carlton had curated. This blueprint provides fire safety guidelines for older buildings and suggests penalising measures like cutting electricity or water when there is a lack of a NOC renewal, etc.
The new blueprint focuses more on the collaborative effort among departments and holding authorities accountable when there is a power mismanagement. With this, the organisation aims to balance policy regulations and citizen awareness perfectly.
“The National Building Code (NBC) has promising things included as construction guidelines,” says Gopal, who hopes to streamline and enhance their initiatives by learning from their past experiences and projects in the upcoming years.
Notably, Beyond Carlton was successful in launching the ‘B-FIRE SAFE’ initiative to sensitise citizens about the importance of fire safety in residential areas in 2021. This has improved the community’s ability to observe, assess, and act promptly during fire hazards in residential complexes.
Establishing fire safety in Odisha
In 2022, Beyond Carlton signed an MoU with the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) to build a fire safety framework for the twin cities Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
The team was happy when the Odisha Government approached them for a blueprint. “Beyond Carlton wants to be a force leading to positive change,” says Venkitachalam; their credible work has pushed other states to adopt a similar model. Today, their blueprint facilitates all cities in Odisha.
“Since Odisha has experience handling natural calamities with ease, they were more prepared and flexible for the suggested changes,” Venkitachalam says.
Another advantage Odisha offered was the digitisation of NOCs, providing a solid database to identify violators regarding certification. “People were under the assumption that a fire accident won’t happen here, which led them to be lethargic in applying for appropriate licences,” Venkitachalam says.
He explains that simple measures like planning the electrical load and investing in appropriate wiring, being aware of the switchboard placements, mapping the escape routes, placing a fire extinguisher in place, investing in a fire alarm, and most importantly, encouraging citizens to ask the right questions before moving into a building can save lives and avoid such disasters.
Elaborating on the basics of fire safety, Venkitachalam discusses two primary criteria: the first is guidelines to be implemented during the construction of buildings, and the second is to ensure that necessary measures are put in place by citizens to combat a fire accident.
“Through our awareness programmes conducted in apartments, we try to educate people on their rights and duties when preventing an accident,” he says.
A lifeline for burn victims
During COVID-19, India lost several lives to fires that broke out in hospitals, exposing critical gaps in fire safety and emergency preparedness. Recognising the urgency of addressing this issue, Beyond Carlton actively worked to improve care for burn victims.
In collaboration with TD System’s CSR activity, the organisation launched the #FireWatch101 Project in 2023, focusing on equipping hospitals with essential facilities to treat burn victims effectively.
The prognosis required for a burn injury to heal is time-consuming and requires daily dressing changes. This process is excruciating for patients, especially children; but, the number of government hospitals equipped with separate burn wards in Bengaluru is scarce.
“Our mission is to equip all government hospitals in Bengaluru with a ward dedicated to people affected due to a fire accident,” says Gopal.
He also points out that people often visit hospitals with kitchen accidents, electric burns, etc. “The lack of awareness in terms of prevention and cure is high as fire is never taken seriously unless something massive happens,” he says. The Beyond Carlton team has successfully created awareness and provided treatment for over 200 people.
Additionally, with #FireWatch 101, Beyond Carlton aims to provide medical support for burn victims from below-poverty-line groups, create awareness of burn prevention through educational sessions, and provide vocational rehabilitation for those affected.
Memorial for the warriors
Uday points out the importance of understanding the emotional motive behind these awareness drives and blueprints. “Once we lose the emotion of why we started this in the first place, our purpose fails,” he says.
Every February, Beyond Carlton honours the nine lives lost in the tragedy by holding a memorial. The event includes conversations with changemakers and citizens working meticulously to prioritise fire safety and awareness. Musicians like Raghu Dixit also support the cause by showcasing their art form.
Uday wants firefighters to get the appreciation that they deserve that he feels is still lacking in India. “In countries like the United States, firefighters are considered to be heroes; however, Indian firefighters often fail to get their due recognition,” he avers, adding, “Every year, we identify people who have been crucial in controlling a fire accident or saving people, and we facilitate them in our memorial.”
Frank Antony Public School, too, does its bit of remembering Akhil Uday by providing the Akhil Uday Award for inspiring efforts every year to students who have been an exemplary example.
For Beyond Carlton, the goal remains simple: to make every city in India 100% fire-safe, and Uday believes that with the help of citizens and the Government, it can be achieved. “It is high time we stop losing any more lives due to human negligence,” he asserts.
Edited by Arunava Banerjee; Images: Beyond Carlton
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