HYDERABAD: The Fire Services Department on Monday served a notice on Meena Jewellers (M. J. Towers) owner Manoj Jethwani for not adhering to fire safety measures. Three painters were charred to death after a major fire broke out in this store at Punjagutta on Saturday.

The department, in its notice, said the building was constructed without obtaining a No Objection Certificate from the Fire Services Department.

LPG cylinders

After fire broke out in the fifth floor, which was under renovation, the entire showroom was filled with smoke and hot gases. LPG gas cylinders were stored on the sixth-floor where the three bodies were found.

"Had the fire not been controlled, explosion of these cylinders could have resulted in the fire spreading to nearby buildings," District Fire Officer G. Venkata Narayana Rao said in the notice. Fire-fighting systems too were not provided, he said.

Penal action

The fire officer said the building owner was liable for penal action as the latter "wilfully contravened" the mandatory fire safety provisions required as per the National Building Code. The owner has been directed to rectify the defects on all the floors and re-set the fire protection system within 60 days from the date of receipt of the notice.

Meanwhile, the city police, referring to the statement made by the Fire Services officials that the painters died only due to negligence of shopkeepers, said action would be taken after investigation. The forensic report was yet to come, a police official said.

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