Urban laws – better compliance for better liveability

In early June, a massive fire engulfed a shopping centre in a very busy area of the national capital. It required nearly 40 fire tenders and a large team of firemen and officials to control the fire and douse it. Fortunately, as per initial reports, there were no casualties, possibly because the fire started early at about 4 am when markets were not yet open. This incident came close on the heels of a fire in a hospital, also in Delhi, leading to the tragic death of one patient. Such incidents of fires in our cities, especially in vulnerable locations have repeatedly brought the subject of regulations and their compliance into sharp focus.
There are regulations in several other areas which are designed to enable orderly governance and growth of our cities. There are acts, rules and regulations to address important urban issues such as fire safety, building control regulations for flood control, earthquake resistant structures, pollution control, waste management, and specially-abled-friendly spaces among others. These are in place to make our cities safe, equitable, inclusive, and environment friendly in character and improve on the liveability scores. However, inspite of these, cities continue to face challenges and risks in each of these areas.
Thus there is need to put in place corrective measures to improve the situation. Take for instance the case of fire safety. There are provisions for regular fire audits and the need for Fire NOCs if a building is to remain in operation. However there could be a number of buildings and installations in our cities that operate without such certification. Or building owners fail to comply with conditions of the NOC. With the rapid growth and spread of our cities, our authorities like the ULBs are likely strapped for human resources to monitor the large number of structures in our cities for compliance to various laws. One possibility is to have a panel of accredited agencies/auditors to carry out inspections and provide certification. This could take some burden off our city administration while ensuring compliance to regulations. There could be other mechanisms.
However, the biggest gains would accrue from creating public awareness on issues of safety, security, environment protection, and other aspects of our cities. If we look at organised and sustainable waste management for example, it calls for strict segregation of waste at source, i.e., in our households. While regulations calling for such segregation have been around for many years, success in this area has been elusive. The only way to achieve greater success is through better participation and compliance by households. Efforts must be directed at the youth including children with the help of NGOs and civil society. Similarly for pollution, road safety and other areas. Our Swachh Bharat Abhiyan is an example of a successful nation-wide campaign with noteworthy participation at the macro and micro levels. This can surely be replicated in other areas too.
In this issue of Urban Update, we look at some the urban regulations, compliance situation, challenges of monitoring, and so on. This could enable further informed debate on the subject.