Monday, June 29, 2026
WHEN BUYING A NEW FLAT - ALWAYS VISIT THE LOCAL FIRE STATION - THANK ME LATER!
The next time you are thinking of buying a new flat for your family please visit your local fire station first.
I know that sounds a little wild, but let me explain why. Buying a new flat is every urban indian's biggest dream. An idea sold to them as the symbol of their having arrived. A marker of success at the rat race we celebrate as willing participants in a capitalist world designed to exploit us to make a few rich people richer. I'm not participating, but if that is your sport, welcome to my article.
Buying a flat in the NCR involves and investment in the range of 2.5 to 15Crores. This is a lot of money. Money you possibly don’t have on hand unless you where involved in the recent horse trading that has been the talk of the town in Indian politics recently or you have generational wealth that left you with too much money to care. Money that yiu will send the next 20 years generating.
I would also recommend taking course a Paragliding, Hang-gliding or piloting a Flying- suit.
But if you are not a trained Para Glider, Flying Suit Pilot or an experienced free climber it might be worth your while reading on.
The NCR is full of offerings of premium living. Your newspapers, social media and hoardings show you the most beautiful renders of imagined living with parks and smiling children and imported cars at the fancy drop offs. But a words of warning here, a flat at 3.5 to 15 crores in a high rise, like the 21st floor that went up in smoke just yesterday in Noida, might not be the best idea.
When the next property agents is selling you the Pent-House or the Yamuna-View or the Golf Facing dream on the 21st floor it might a good idea to ask where the nearest fire station is. And then go over and ask them till what floor can they fight fires.
A few weeks ago the huge fires on another 21st floor in Noida had the press flooded with rather comical pictures of of Noida Fire Service “Watering the Plants on the 6th floor”. That was the headline.
I could not help laughing. But it is also scary - I have very close friends in Noida, in sector 102, on the 21st floor of an apartment building. It gives me the creeps.
Poor electrical installations, untrained “technicians” , and cost saving by using inadequate wire grades etc could be a cause. But that is presides the point.
WHY ARE 21 FLOOR BUILDINGS ALLOWED TO BE BUILT IF WE DO NOT HAVE FIRE ENGINES THAT CAN FIGHT FIRES AT THOSE HEIGHTS AND RESCUE PEOPLE.
How is planning based on scalable area, and speculation not on life and safety. And people just a number, a means to end. Dispensable to the developer’s greed.
The maximum allowable limit for building should be not be a function of a masterplan or a FSI.
BUILDING HEIGHTS SHOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE MAXIMUM HEIGHT THE LOCAL FIRE STATION EQUIPMENT CAN FIGHT FIRES AT.
That is it. There should be no other determinant.
SO THE NEXT TIME YOU PLAN TO BUY A FLAT, PLEASE MAKE A TRIP TO THE LOCALITY FIRE STATION, ASK HOW HIGH THEIR TRUCKS CAN REACH IN METERS. DIVIDE THAT BY 3 AND SET YOUR LIMIT FOR HOW FAR UP IN THE SKY YOU PLAN TO LIVE.
That is my sincerest advice while house shopping.
Of course you could ignore it, thats your choice.
You could be safe. Or you could be news!
STAY SAFE! THANK ME LATER!
Labels: BUILDING HEIGHTS, BYELAWS, CONTROLS, Delhi, DELHIFIRES, FIRE, FIRESAFETY, HIGHRISE, housing, NCR, urbanism
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Of Fires, Collapses, Lal Doras and Other stories that Rich people tell
And while I write, 15 is the number of human lives lost, there maybe more. We have not counted the animals and pets that were lost to fire.
So why is this fire different from the one that happened in the Hauz Rani Hotel?
To be Honest it isnt.
The loss of life, was for similar reasons. 1. No second staircase or escape route. 2. Inability for rescue persons to enter the building 3. Norms and Permission flouted. 4. Operating at far above human occupancy building was sanctioned for or function that was permitted.
In the aftermath of the Delhi Fire and Building collapse we had some very vocal and “pro-people” activists call for the “Demolition of Urban Village” as seems to be the solution to every problem AFTER it as occurred, in contemporary India. You see a lot of it in UP, and Delhi now.
We might have heard the same call again after the fire in Lucknow, the difference however, is Aliganj is not a Lal Dora area.
I have roots in Lucknow, and continued to call it home throughout my years at School of Planning and Architecture, till I set up base and migrated to Delhi in 2004.
Aliganj is middle class suburb of Lucknow, developed by the LDA. Planned and plotted, with infrastructure, development controls and regulations. It has bye-laws and sanction processes put in place by state machinery. And wasmthen sold to buyers to build, in keeping with bye-laws and controls with a approval and sanctioning process in place. All of which must have been actioned to build this building, that has recently gone up in flames.
Aliganj is not an Urban village, that was co-opted, and so “exempt” of development control or process or procedure.
And yet Aliganj had a fire. Yes we have fires in all kind of buildings, so that is not saying much.
The Aliganj, Lucknow building fire was not in a Lal Dora area; instead, investigations by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) revealed it was an authorised plotted development scheme where a building approved strictly for residential use was illegally converted into a commercial complex - as reported by NDTV on its online portal.
It was used for a function it was not sanctioned for. It was allowed to be used for commercial activities without requisite exits, fire escape, refuges, proper ventilation .
And then it has a fire,
If we go by the logic that only Lal Dora spaces are unsafe, that should never have been the case. Fires should just automatically extinguish themselves once they realise they are in a state sanctioned, municipality authorised colony.
NO?
Aliganj is a planned colony, it has rules, I imagine, it must have an approval process, it must have checks and balances, it has state machinery. It must also have periodic inspections? Junior Engineers Executive Engineers, Fire Officers, etc who periodically inspect and sign off on these buildings and bear witness to their following the letter of the law.
Given all that and the legal standing of the colony, the fire honestly had no business raging there, and killing 15 people? No that was just not on!
I am reminded of the rather amusing video of the recent fire on the 12th floor of a posh Housing Complex in Noida - Ivy County Society in sector 75, where the fire service was apparently “watering plants” on the sixth floor.
It was both comical and reassuring to see that the rich and poor suffer from an equal indifference from the state machinery in times of distress - that soon turned a deep sadness and disappointment - these are our best cities in 2026.
Much as some people would have liked to pin this on the poor, clearly fires don’t seem to discriminate.
So the big question is - what actually causes fires?
Me, I’ll go with- “Fires are caused by bad governance and corrupt citizens and lack of enforcement. In case you hadn’t figured that out by now!” #fire #delhi #lucknow #regulations #norms #urbanism
EDIT: This morning, the 24th of June, the news carried horrifying images of a huge fire in the heart of New Delhi, at a "labour settlement" close to Udyog Bhavan. This is the area of the Modi's pet project the Central Vista designed by our friendly neighbourhood Amdavadi Architect. How doe we explain these fires? its not an urban village, its not a colony, its most likely a temporary settlement for the large labour force working on one of the many re-building projects. Do they follow norms? are there safety checks? and will we know the actual number of casualties in any of these fires?
Thursday, June 04, 2026
We All Know Why!
Every summer we will have some fires - like the recent one in Malviya Nagar. Every monsoon we will lose lives to flooding and electrocutions from naked wires or like in Mehrauli some lives will be drowned in gushing storm waters. Else where in winter lives will be lost to to Delhi winter’s.
A few days ago a building collapse in Said-Ul-Ajaid took young lives. Videos of building collapses Elsewhere in the city are floating on Instagram and X.
Every year there is a fire or collapse or electrocution or flooding or drowning that catalyses the emotions of the city. There is a lot of talk, people are blamed, past governments held responsible, new laws enacted, and people told to carry on.
In some cases a paltry sum of money is offered, in a huge show of magnanimity and political posturing. The amount, usually laughably small, but justified by quoting government norms, is never an acknowledgement of value of individual life and to me is more demonstration of how dispensable the citizens are.
We will talk about these till the next floor, or fire.
There will be more posturing, more compensation, and life will go on.
The legal route, to hold government and elected representatives and municipal bodies accountable are time consuming, expensive and emotionally and mentally straining, Not to mention the strong arm of the law that dissuades you directly and indirectly from undertaking such step, to stand up to the mighty of the state.
Of course you can come back at me and say, why were they living in a hotel that was clearly unauthorised and did not have sanction.
If you are the 8 members of the family that was staying int he hotel, because their aging grandfather was admitted at max for a few days of treatment, you are going to look for the closest hotel, a short walk from the hospital, a place relatively budget friendly since we know ho expensive private medical care is, and maybe make sure the toilets are clean and the beds comfortable so you get good sleep when you come back from your shift of staying with your near or dear one at the hospital.
You don’t ask for a Fire NOC before checking into a hotel or guest house.
THAT IS WHAT WE PAY OUR TAXES FOR.
For the government to ensure a basic level of infrastructure, and safety and standard of living to all citizens irrespective of class, gender, race, shin colour, ethnicity and earning spending capacity.
The last one becoming increasingly the measure of your importance to the state in recent years.
Now if in stead of this small hotel in Malviya Nagar, DLF Select City Mall, (which rumour has it was supposed to be the Saket District Centre as per an old MPD, but that is another discussion)- If DLF’s Select city walk were to burn down, I dare say the scenario would be different.
We can talk about politics, and social justice. About how change is hard, and other enlightenments. What is clear is, whatever the government may be, the brunt of the suffering will always be borne by those with little means, who have no choices, no options. The cost of systemic failure will always be borne by the invisible millions who keep our cities running?
One gets a feeling there is an unspoken difference between the Poor Man's Bharat, and the Rich Man's India!
And we all know why.
Tuesday, June 02, 2026
Of Urban Villages in Amritkaal
The recent collapse of a 5 story building in Champa Gali, the now upmarket area of Said ul Ajaib, is sad, but also inevitable in a sense.
Any one familiar with the city of Delhi is possibly also familiar with its many novelties called Urban Villages. Some of Delhis most popular and celebrated addresses are found in these. It started with the famous designer ghetto of Hauz Khas Village popularly called HKV. In the 2000s it was the place to be. Designers stores, Art Galleries, and Pubs and restaurants. Designed by by some of the bigger Architecture practices of the city. Stores like Ogaan, Delhi Art Gallery, Restaurants like Gunpowder, OTB, Yeti and Naivaidyam made it a place to be seen. A great space for young creative and small business owners to make a start and grow.
My initial fascination with the suburb, and its growing popularity, was slowly replaced with a utter fear of the possibility of a fire event, with pubs and cafes on the 3rd with barely 3 foot wide staircases for escape. I did not fancy ending my life there, and completely stopped visiting the area. I cannot recall, but i do remember some fairly fancy pubs there going up in smoke some years later. I have not been there since.
Over time HKV got posh, upmarket and expensive and chocked, space became hard to find, and rents prohibitive. Other similar villages then found their chance at prosperity - Shahpur Jat, Nizamuddin, Chattarpur, Mehrauli, and Said ul Ajaib among them. Easily accessible to the Fancy South Delhi crowd. Cafes, Restaurants and Designer stores started showing up.
Mehrauli - accessible from both Delhi and Gurgaon, with great road connectivity for your fancy luxury car and with a sprinkling of some of Delhis biggest names in hospitality dotting the spaces between designer labels, became a destination for the most expensive and sought after Bridal wear in the country.
Near by in Chatterpur, the humble Dhan Mill, complex that started off as an alt destination, with interesting cafes, and stores, has been building itself into a full fledged mall for the ultra rich, slowly going form “Design-led” to “Money- driven” in its choices of outlets or should we say its command of rental.
All urban villages were not so fortunate. Ayanagar for instance remains potholed waterlogged and fairly un kept, low rental accommodations for staff and working populations who cannot afford rents in Gurugram. Ghitorni and Sultanpur.- on the MG road, a market of factory outlets, and furniture and home decor stores,
There are others too, that transformed much like Kotla Mubarakpur, into very large hardware and building material markets of south Delhi, long before fashion and food were talking points in Delhi.
There is also Humayunpur, that has now transpormed into the undisputed Food Capital of the Delhi and enjoys a reputation with the Genz
And then there are still others like Khanpur, and Said-ul-Ajaib. On the fringes of South Delhi, that could have become rich, expensive , and gentrified areas, but did not. The exact reasons are hard to arrive at.
Designer destination or not, what is common to all these urban villages is a lack of any kind of regulation. The absence of building controls, applicable bye-laws and most of all life and safety regulations.
Building activity in most of the country, is at best a craft exercise - a learned on the job mason becomes a self styled contractor and takes on building work. It is not a regulated profession, with training and licensing. There are no engineering norms, no safety norms and no checks from local authorities. Our urban villages function in a similar manner. In Mehrauli for instance there are apartments blocks with excess of 20 apartments, without any fire fighting provisions and dead ends that would not pass municipal sanction anywhere in the country.
What was one day a 2-floor house, suddenly disappears gets replaced by a 6 floor apartment block of pigeon holes. Built on matchstick columns by a local building hand who now calls himself a contractor. In other places, floors are added on floors, with reckless abandon, to get rents from warehousing, coaching centres, PG accommodation for the thousands of young children hoping to make a a future in the big cities of Delhi. I was one of them in 1998 - staying in Bed Sarai, preparing for my entrance to Architecture School.
The building that collapsed in Said-ul-Ajaib, and forgive my saying so, is not an anomaly. No, whatever you might make of it from the news, from sound bytes and much circulated videos of people talking about having raised alarms and informed authorities - this is how they function and why they are viable places for business.
The lack of regulation and sanctioning, no real landuse definition, and of course huge electoral clout at local levels are part of the equations that keep these places viable. Buildings and lands, like in the case of Mehrauli’s most posh addresses, are owned by well connected, extremely rich and socially important people.
So while the building collapse, and the loss of life is sad, and avoidable, it is just another event in the life of Urban India. And given the age of these villages and their buildings, and growing pressure to make money, I would wager, these will become more frequent in the coming years. And no one is going to do a damn thing about it.
My condolences go out the families that lost so much more than just one fo their children that evening. But in a nation of 1.4 billion 5 lives is a blip on Hashtag Amritkaal and its 5Trillion Dollar economy.
