Schools playing with fire: CAG

CHENNAI: Castigating the Chennai Corporation for flouting safety norms, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said it failed to ensure the safety of school children by not periodically refilling fire extinguishers.In its report for (2009-10) the year ending 31 March 2010, the CAG said the fire extinguishers installed in corporation schools were to be refilled periodically and kept in working condition. During the audit, it was noticed that in 26 out of 79 (33 per cent) sample schools, fire extinguishers were not refilled for a period ranging from two to three years. Also, in two schools, no fire extinguishers were installed.The CAG noted that the provisions of the TN Public Buildings (Licensing) Act, 1965 should be strictly followed to prevent accidents. “By flouting the norms, corporation failed to ensure the safety of the school children,” the CAG indicted.In an even more scathing criticism, the report said the reply of the government (in April 2011) that fire extinguishers were filled periodically was a suppression of the fact. “The reply suppresses the facts stated by headmasters of respective sample schools that fire extinguishers were not filled up periodically,” it asserted. The 1965 Act stipulates that public buildings like schools shall be used only under a valid license from competent authority. “However, none of the corporation schools obtained license from competent authority. When this was pointed out, the Superintending Engineer, Buildings department stated (in December 2010) that the practice of obtaining licences were not followed as far as corporation schools were concerned.” The government stated that schools were govt buildings and were exempt from obtaining such licence.  “The reply is not tenable as the Act clearly stipulates that schools had to be certified by competent authority,” the CAG said.