After 20 years, fire department seeks hike in charges

SURAT: After 20 years, the fire and safety department of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has proposed a hike in its no objection certificate (NOC) rates for buildings.
If accepted by ruling party’s standing committee, it would increase the fire department’s annual income from present Rs 20 lakh per year to Rs 2 crore.

Chief fire officer, SMC, Vasant Parikh said, “The increase that we have proposed is marginal when compared with charges prevalent in cities like Ahmedabad. More so, we have adopted the National Building Code Part IV and categorized buildings in seven different categories and suggested the hike.”

With more than 18 lakh households and at least 4 lakh buildings in city, merely 600-odd go for obtaining and renewing fire license or get NOC. Under the new proposal, buildings are categorized in residential, educational, institutional, assembly, business, mercantile, industrial and storage type.
At present, the department charges flat Rs 500 for issuing NOC to buildings.
Inspection charges are fixed for residential buildings according to their size. The NOC charges are fixed at Rs 1,000 per unit and thereafter Rs 500 is charged for renewal. The charges would be double for any property located outside city limits.
For any industrial building, charges would be Rs 5,000, which is highest in Surat.
by via Surat News, Latest Surat News Headlines & Live Updates - Times of India