Seven Dance Bars In Bhubaneswar Asked To Obtain Fresh Fire NoC

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Police, which had cancelled the Fire No-Objection Certificate (NoC) of seven dance bars in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, has asked the bar owners to apply for fresh fire safety certificates.

“We have given a written intimation to the owners of these seven dance bars about the cancellation of the Fire NOC and asked them to apply for fresh fire safety certificates with proper procedure,” Director General of Police (DGP) BK Sharma told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

Excise Superintendent, Khurda, Prasanna Acharya said a special team of Fire Services personnel will inspect the fire safety measures in these dance bars. “If the team finds that the bars have fulfilled all fire safety parameters, they will be provided a certificate along with the NOC,” he added.

Sources said that an Assistant Fire Safety Officer had issued NOCs on February 6 last year. According to the Fire Safety Rules, 2017, the Fire Services Department should have issued the certificates instead of NOCs. The DGP has ordered an investigation into this case.

The Excise Commissioner had recently allowed seven dance bars in Bhubaneswar to function following a directive of the Orissa High Court. The owners were asked to strictly adhere to a set of guidelines, which included a fire safety certificate. However, the police closed the bars on Tuesday after the fire safety certificates issued to them were found to be faulty.