Panaji market a sitting duck, firefighting system defunct

Panaji: The firefighting system at the Corporation of the City of Panaji’s municipal market, which receives hundreds of shoppers every day, is defunct. A fire safety audit conducted by the directorate of fire and emergency services (DFES) found the system to be non-functional.If the fire department officials are to be believed, the CCP has failed to take the risk of a fire seriously. “We found that their entire firefighting system is not working. There are fire hydrants, hose reels, water sprinklers, and smoke extractors, but nothing is working. There are fire exits, but the signages are not proper,” said a DFES officer.Fire department officials identified several shortcomings during an inspection at the market complex on Monday. The officer said that directions will be issued to the CCP to rectify the defects. “We are going to submit our audit report to the CCP. In the report, we will mention that the CCP has to immediately rectify the faults,” said the official.The municipal market has around 400 vendors selling all sorts of wares, from fruits and vegetables to mobile phones and clothing. CCP commissioner Clen Madeira confirmed that the inspection identified “some shortfalls”. He said that steps will be taken to address the defects once the DFES submits its audit report.Past fire safety inspections in 2014 and 2017 found that firefighting equipment was not being maintained by the CCP. In Feb 2017, a fire broke out at the market because of a short circuit.