Rapid Urbanization V. Compliance Deficit: The Fire Safety Governance In India
Kirti Sharma, Practising Advocate in NCT Delhi; Alumna, LL.M. (Constitutional Law), The Indian Law Institute (ILI), New Delhi (2024-25).
ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on the key macro and micro factors contributing to the rise of urban fire and disaster tragedies in India. It uses a socio-legal approach to show how rapid urban growth has disconnected from local enforcement and emergency response capabilities. The study evaluates the recent shift from the National Building Code (NBC 2016) to the National Building Construction Standard (NBCS) of May 2026. It argues that the nonmandatory and overlapping safety legislation is a step back from good and sustainable governance. Additionally, the study examines the investment and ground-level problems that aid such a state. To address these risks, this paper recommends a multi-layered policy approach.
India’s rapid vertical urbanization has significantly outpaced its safety infrastructure and regulatory oversight. On June 5th, 2026, a fire broke out on the 12th floor of a Noida high-rise building, where the residents fled through smoke-filled corridors, and firefighters arrived within minutes. However, their hoses could not contain the blaze as they stopped at the sixth floor. Even the tallest ladder available with them could not reach the fire, and for several minutes, water sprayed against the building, falling short of the flames. Social media ironically dubbed this incident as “watering the plants”, but this is not an isolated incident. The seasonal spike in fire incidents is a painful reminder of a tragic drowning incident that took place in the Rajinder Nagar coaching basement back in July 2024. Investigations pointed to insufficient exits, sealed doors, and illegal construction of extra rooms in the coaching and basements, all of which were not sanctioned by the government. Since then, more incidents have come into light, like the factory fires in India’s fire capital, Virudhunagar, which have experienced backto-back explosions that killed over 40 workers, with bodies discovered fused to the benches. Investigations pointed out that such fire incidents, including the recent Malviya Nagar hotel fire, which resulted in 21 deaths, were a result of a fire breaking out in a place lacking valid clearances, i.e., no valid Fire NOC, blocked exits, and untrained workers. There was also an incident in 2019 where the Anaj Mandi factory caught fire in Delhi, killing 43 workers who were sleeping in an illegal manufacturing unit, which had only one ventilator. But no significant improvement has been made since then, as similar incidents keep repeating. The noncompliance becomes a big concern as even the Supreme Court, in its 2018 verdict, heard a public interest lawsuit that both the Parliament Building and the Supreme Court lacked full fire compliance. Unfortunately, losses due to fires or explosions in cooling units have become a seasonal event in India.
