Some progress made at Wankhede, say fire officials

Mumbai, Feb 21 (PTI) Days after raising doubts about thesafety arrangements at the revamped Wankhede stadium, venue ofthe World Cup final, the city''s fire department officialstoday conducted another round of inspection at the stadium andsaid that some progress has been made.

"There are some irregularities but not major like puttingup extinguishers, lugs and others. They are complying with thenorms...the work is on," deputy chief fire officer A N Shinde,who inspected the stadium with his team, told PTI here.

The fire brigade had last week expressed displeasure atthe non-compliance of fire safety norms at the recentlyrevamped Wankhede stadium after inspection on Wednesday.

The department had also written a letter to MCA statingthe irregularities at the stadium.

"We had sought reply from the MCA regarding compliance offire safety norms in the stadium. The reply is expected withintwo or three days," chief fire officer Uday Tatkare said.

"There are irregularities at the stadium includingsprinklers at the stands and ventilation problem in thebasement. We have given them the lapses in writing," Tatkaresaid.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) haspulled up its socks and began work to comply with therequisite norms.

"The fire department has given us in writing theirregularities at the stadium. Work is in progress and once weare done, a team of fire officials would inspect the workafter which we would get a compliance certificate," MCA jointsecretary Lalchand Rajput said. (More) PTI KKP VKV AH