TOGETHERVCAN’S SOCIAL SANCHAR ON ‘Electrical Safety is Non-Negotiable’

When
November 21,2022 @ 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Electrical Safety in Non-negotiable!

Electrical Overloading | Short Circuit | Fire Lift | Fire Evacuation Lift and more…

In continuation from the Social Sanchar held on 11th October 2022, wherein the discussions touched upon the issue of accidental fires primarily being due to electrical unsafe practices, V Citizens Action Network (VCAN) convened a Social Sanchar Panel Discussion on 21st November, 2022, to address specific issues related to Electrical Overloading | Short Circuit | Fire Lift | Fire Evacuation Lift and to emphasise that “Electrical Safety is Non-negotiable!”

The Chief Electrical Inspector Energy Department, Government of Maharashtra has come forward and joined V Citizens Action Network (VCAN), to guide and make us aware about electrical overloading, causes of short-circuits, other lapses related to electrical installations which we may inadvertently cause and also about Lifts in general, Fire lifts and Fire Evacuation lifts and more.
The sharp focus was, NOT to compromise on Electrical Safety and invite Fires!!

The Social Sanchar began with Smt. Indrani Malkani, Chairman & Managing Trustee of VCAN, welcoming the in-house and online participants.
A brief introduction was given by Smt. Malkani about VCAN, and its overarching objective of establishing linkages and interactions between Citizens and several Government Authorities. She also touched upon the features of VCAN’s web portal and of TogetherVCAN’s Social Sanchar.

Following the introduction, Smt. Malkani conveyed her grateful thanks to all the partners for supporting and helping to conduct this vital Social Sanchar.

Support Partner: Spartan Engineering Industries
Venue Partner: Royal Bombay Yacht Club
Implementing Partner: Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR)
College Partner: Jai Hind College; their Student Council, the NSS and all the Students
She thanked the video tech team Team One, photographer Shri. Abhishek Maity, VCAN’s IT team Teknowlegion and her assistant and consultant for social media Shri. Sumit Lulla, friends in the media and all present in-house and online.

Smt. Malkani then invited her fellow Trustee Shri. V. Ranganathan IAS (Retd.) Former Municipal Commissioner BMC and Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra, to share the significance of the subject of the Social Sanchar “Electrical Safety in Non-negotiable” and the define some basic responsibilities of stakeholders.

Shri Ranganathan spoke as under:
Almost three fourth of fire mishaps in Mumbai arise from electrical installations. The frequency and intensity of such incidents is increasing due to a) global warming b) proliferation of tall buildings and c) density of electrical installations.

Awareness creation in the matter is the need of the hour to minimise loss of life & property.

Action by owner of the building, housing society & residents:

• Rodent control to avoid damage to cables & wires
• Ventilation of meter room
• Functional earthing for 125% load
• Avoid loose connections and poor termination
• Avoid overloaded & clumpy electrical installations
• Electrical work must be done by qualified electrician
• Annual inspection of electrical systems.

Action by MEP consultant & contractor:

• Proper layout of meter room & cables
• Adhere to National Building Code 2016 ad CEA Regulations and use ISI certified material
• Electrical shaft must not be used for any other purpose
• In 1 & 3 provide fire/heat/smoke detection system and fire control system
• Wiring should not be in the vicinity of water, steam or gas lines

Action by Government

• Massive campaign of awareness creation
• Ensure adequate no of electrical auditors
• Make statutory provisions for annual audit and maintenance of electrical systems
• Involve co-operation Department for housing societies
• Ensure that all Government buildings adhere to the points herein.

Smt. Malkani then proceeded to explain the format of the Panel Discussion and how it would be conducted. She added that the proceedings of the Panel Discussions, would be considered and appropriate recommendations will be taken on record for work ahead.

She then introduced the Moderator, Keynote Speaker and the Panellists

Moderator:

Shri Ajit Kumar Jain IAS (Retd.), Former Addl. Chief Secretary, and State RTI Commissioner. Founder Director ERAF Environment Research Foundation and headed the Working Group on fire safety, set up by the Government of Maharashtra

Keynote Speaker:

Shri Praveen Pardeshi IAS (Retd.), Former Addl. Chief Secretary, and Municipal Commissioner BMC. Head of the “Technical Committee on Safety Manual” to respond to man-made disasters and Member Administration at Capacity Building Commission, Government of India.

Panellists:

Shri Dinesh Khonde, Chief Electrical Inspector, Maharashtra State

Shri Sunil Rathod, Chief Engineer Development Plan, BMC

Shri Arvind Mandke, Former Chief Fire Officer Thane Municipal Corporation & CIDCO

To view the Brief Profiles of the Moderator, the Keynote Speaker and the other Panellists click here

After the introductions Smt. Malkani invited Moderator Shri. Ajit Kumar Jain’s to give his Opening Remarks and moderate the Panel Discussion

Shri Ajit Kumar Jain started his remarks in an analytical manner and emphasised that issues related to unsafe electrical practices arise primarily post completion of buildings when retrofitting and interiors are done and AC s are fitted etc. under the guise of Tenantable repairs.

Among other points, he also shared some key recommendations (see below) made by the ‘Working group on Fire Safety, Govt. of Maharashtra’ set up in 2019 and of which he was Chairman:

• Fire safety and Electrical Safety is intrinsically connected to each other
• The system of Fire inspection and Electrical inspection should go together
• If Electrical short circuit is the main cause of the majority of the fire incidents, the only way to prevent Fires accidents is to take care of the Electrical Systems in our buildings or in other kinds of establishments
• Institutional convergence of the agency that is handling fire safety and the department of electrical safety

Shri Ajit Kumar Jain’s analytical Opening Remarks, can be viewed from 20 minutes 10 seconds onward click here

Shri Praveen Pardeshi was thereafter invited to deliver the keynote address, which he started by asking a question to the audience, as to what is the difference between a Karmachari and Karmayogi, and then going on to explain ‘Mission Karmyogi: from Karmacharis to Karmyogi’.

As he made his presentation Shri Pardeshi spoke on the following:

• Building Codes and Development Control Provision, focused Reactive vs Proactive After vs Before
• Reasons for Fire Calls over last five years in Mumbai
• Analysis of causes of Fire over last five years in Mumbai
• Fires due to underlying causes – An assessment
• Prevention measures -Electrical bylaws
• The key stakeholders
• Electrical Inspector & Chartered electrical safety Engineers (CESE)
• Enforcement and Compliance

To see the PPT of Shri Praveen Pardeshi – Safeguarding lives and property against Fire click here

The very engaging Keynote Address by Shri Praveen Pardeshi can be viewed from 25 minutes 33 seconds onward click here

Before the Panellists were invited to speak, a short informative video made by Spartan Engineering Industry, depicting Fire situation and the process of evacuation, was played.

To see the video by Spartan, click here

Thereafter Moderator Shri Ajit Kumar Jain invited Shri Dinesh Khonde, Chief Electrical Inspector, Maharashtra State, to give his views. Shri Khonde made two presentations.
His first presentation was on Electrical Safety in high-rise building from overloading and short-circuit perspective, with an emphasis ‘Every Life Matters’. He elaborated on the ‘root causes of electrical hazards’, ‘precautionary measure to be adopted for prevention of overload and short circuit that leads to electrical hazard’ about the IOT device, and the electrical safety dos and don’ts.
To see the PPT – CEI _ overloading & short circuit click here

Shri Khonde’s second presentation was on Lift Safety. He explained the types of lifts and various specifications, the safety provisions in a lift, about the fire lift and fire evacuation lift, legislative provisions, code-based license certificate, what to do if trapped in a lift, lift safety dos and don’ts and safety tips as well as responsibilities of owners/societies
To see the PPT – CEI _ Lift Safety click here

Please view the video and hear directly from Shri Dinesh Khonde from 52 minutes 28 seconds onwards click here

Moderator Shri Ajit Kumar Jain then invited the next panellist Shri. Sunil Rathod Chief Engineer Development Plan, BMC to speak and address the issues that arises post completion of buildings and there are change of owners, when retrofitting and interiors are done and extra AC s are fitted etc. under the garb of Tenantable repairs.
Shri. Sunil Rathod spoke about the role of the Development Planning Authority and the Development Plan 2034.

Please view the video and hear directly from Shri Rathod from 1 hour 22 minutes 55 seconds onwards click here

Shri Arvind Mandke, spoke on the key issues of Fire Lift and Fire Evacuation Lift and Fire Tower as well as Fire Escape Chute; the specific requirements of each and also the different usage of each etc.

To see the PPT of Shri Arvind Mandke – Fire Lift and Fire Evacuation Lift click here

Please view the video and hear directly from Shri Mandke from 1 hour 27 minutes 7 seconds onwards click here

Considering the spectrum of critical issues which were discussed, we urge that it would be best heard directly from the Moderator, the Keynote Speaker and the Panellists by viewing the full Panel Discussion video click here

To view the PDF version of the PPTs**;

Shri Praveen Pardeshi click here

Shri Dinesh Khonde – PPT – CEI _ overloading & short circuit click here

Shri Dinesh Khonde – PPT – CEI _ Lift Safety click here

Shri Arvind Mandke click here

Followed by the informative points made and presentations by the panellists, the Q & A session was opened to questions from in-house audience as well as questions via WhatsApp, SMS, Twitter, YouTube Chat and Facebook Chat, by the online audience.

The Q & A session starts from the 1 hour 33 minutes 5 seconds onward click here

At the conclusion of the Q & A, Smt. Malkani invited Moderator Shri. Ajit Kumar Jain to give the summary of the proceedings.

Shri. Jain summarised the proceedings very comprehensively and ended by highlighting the 5 Mantras; Prevention, Maintenance, Inspection and Preventive Maintenance.

The full summary can be viewed from 2 hour 2 minutes 33 seconds onward click here

Concluding the session, Smt Malkani invited Trustees of VCAN, Shri V. Ranganathan and Capt. Ashok Malkani and Shri Deepak Vaswani President of Royal Bombay Yacht Club to join her and present mementos to the Moderator, Keynote Speaker and the Panellists.

Thereafter, couple of official photographs were taken with the Trustees of VCAN and all were invited for some light refreshments.

To view the photos of the event, click here

To view the video of the event, click here

To view the PDF of all the press coverages with clickable links, click here

To view the press coverage by the Times of India, on 22^nd November click here
To view the press coverage by the Free Press Journal, on 22^nd November click here

**Please be advised, the information in the presentations were prepared by the Keynote speaker Shri Praveen Pardeshi and Panellists; Shri Dinesh Khonde and Shri Arvind Mandke, and was presented at the TogetherVCAN’s Social Sanchar – Panel Discussion held on 21st November 2022.

All Rights are reserved with the Authors and due acknowledgement is to be given to the Authors should this presentation in part or in full be used by anyone anywhere. The contents of the presentations are by the Authors and not by VCAN.

All our articles are periodically updated.