New guidelines set for high-rise buildings

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The width of the road and the distance from the nearest fire stations would decide whether high rise buildings would get environmental clearance in three states including Kerala, according to the new guidelines accepted by the Central Government.As per the guidelines, all necessary firefighting equipment should be in place before occupying buildings with a height of more than 15 metres.The Ministry of Environment and Forests said it had expedited these guidelines as it had been receiving proposals for environmental clearance for high rise buildings from Kerala, Maharashtra and Haryana on a regular basis.The Experts Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests has recommended that the height of the building should be in accordance with the width of the road (see box 1) and also the distance of fire station from the building(see box 2), so that in case of emergency, the fire tender may reach in the shortest possible time.The EAC asks for mandatory mock-up drills and availability of no objection certificates from the departments concerned before the construction and  before occupancy. The experts had also recommended that the provisions and the guidelines, as applicable, for the state departments and the National or State Disaster Management Authority should be strictly followed.The State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authorities (SEIAAs) may decide to make the provision more stringent than the above guidelines for projects within their jurisdiction. “These recommendations of the EAC had been accepted by the competent authority,” the Ministry said. The EAC for building, construction, infrastructure and CRZ projects in its 105th meeting held from September 21 to 23 last year had  discussed the issues related to increase in traffic, distance from fire stations and other emergency and evacuation requirements for high rise buildings in detail. A site visit in Kerala was also undertaken by the EAC.