No Emergency Exit in these buildings

 BANGALORE: The nine-floor Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) building and the seven-floor Karnataka State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited (KSCMFL) building are equipped with sufficient number of fire extinguishers but there is no awareness among the employees on how to use these equipment in case of an emergency.It is shocking to know that many employees of various government departments situated at the three blocks of KSCMFL complex do not have a basic knowledge on how to use fire extinguishers. “I do not know anything about it. No one has taught us how to handle the fire extinguishers,” said an employee of KSCMFL on condition of anonymity.If the arch of KSCMFL is any indication, it seems that the executive engineer, who is in-charge of building maintenance, has no knowledge about fire safety norms. As per the fire safety norms, there should not be any arch at the entrance (the arch should be placed above eight feet) to facilitate the entry of fire tenders without any hassles.The drive way is congested making it difficult for a fire tender to enter the compound in case of an emergency. Like any other government building, the menace of haphazard parking of vehicles exists here too.A senior officer of Fire and Emergency Services recalled how firemen had to struggle to enter the premises when a fire mishap took place here more then two decades ago.However, K S Manjunath, Executive Engineer, said that a few people at each floor were trained in handling the fire extinguishers. When asked about the missing hose pipe on the ground floor, Manjunath confessed that the hose pipe was stolen some time ago.The building has a provision for emergency exit but no employee is aware of it. No effort has been made to put up a sign marking an emergency exit. “We have a plan to equip this building with the latest fire safety equipment,” said the engineer. It is quite disappointing to see that the MSIL building has no emergency exit for the safe passage of employees during emergencies. There was a staircase, to use as an emergency exit, but it was demolished when an adjoining building was pulled down. “We have sent a proposal to higher authorities to have an emergency exit on the lines of Viveswaraya building on Dr Ambedkar Road. This building will have an emergency exit shortly,” said C L Surendranath, in-charge of maintenance, MSIL.