JOIN USCarlton Towers is one step closer to opening its doors to business as it has finally obtained a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
The Carlton Towers tragedy had claimed nine lives on February 23, 2009. All the nine were said to have either died due to asphyxiation or jumped to death. “We have complied with all the rules and regulations which have been prescribed by the State government. We have in fact gone over and beyond what was required and have a 150 per cent compliance,” said Joseph Thomas, spokesperson of Carlton Towers Owners Association (CTOA)
The CTOA has claimed that it has ensured that all the cabling and wirings, apart from the elevators, have all been changed and state-of-the-art technology has replaced the cables, which is stated to have been the prime reason for the fire accident. The association has replaced the cables with a new technology called the bussbars which distributes power.
“The previous system led to the cables catching fire and the smoke getting tunnelled into the seventh floor of the building through the ducts. Now we have replaced them with the bussbars which are expensive, but effectively replace the cable mechanism,” said the spokesperson.
Projecting the building as being more safer than most other commercial properties in the City, the CTOA states that the entire building is as new as it can get. “We have spent huge amount of money on refurbishing the entire building, but there still appears to be some elements which are trying to scuttle the entire efforts of CTOA to get the building up and running,” Thomas said.
Deputy Director (Administration) Fire and Emergency Services, D Rasheed, confirmed that they had conducted an inspection of the building. “They have rectified all lacunae that existed when the fire accident happened. We have now issued them a NOC,” he said.
However, the building still lacks power supply as the Electrical Inspectorate is yet to give its assent to the re-opening of the towers.