Tag Archives: companies

Carlton Fire Accident – will we ever learn?

by geeksrik

 

 

(Image courtesy : http://www.mynews.in )

 

The whole city was buzzing with the news of the unfortunate fire accident at Carlton towers, a well known landmark in East Bangalore near the bustling Indiranagar Flyover. There are too many loose ends as usual to the story. No setbacks to the building, all emergency exits were locked (astonishing part of the irony), fire tenders could not reach more than fourth floor, no water nearby and only fire tender in Karnataka to have hydraulic ladders. Neither did fire alarms did not go off in the building, and nor did the water sprinklers.

This was a recipe for perfect disaster and disaster it was – or should I say a shame to the government with due respects. 108 is a great effort by the CM as a nice service to have. Believe me I have personally used 108 and found it ultra effective. Its free as well. But what about FIRE ? The fire engines, equipments, and firemen all belong to 1980 era. Unfortunately no government has spent any money on upgrading the fire handling infrastructure and this is a biggest shame for an IT capital of a country like ours. What more can I say if a water hose does not reach more than fourth floor of a building.

I am totally disqualified to talk of people within that building on that day since I can only feel bad about what they went through, but then one of the basic steps during a fire is to lie low on the floor, with a wet handkerchief around your mouth and nose and start crawling towards the nearest exit. Alas, the biggest cruelty in this accident was to keep the emergency exits locked and the person responsible for this act must be handed the highest sentence as a lesson to learn. If punishment brings about education, then thats what we need today.

The firemen did their best, risked their lives, and are also in the ICU thanks to no gas masks!!! Dear Yeddy, what we need is an urgent order for gas masks of the highest technical capability for our firemen. If they cant help us, we cant help ourselves as well. Even as you read this blog post in every corner of every sub registrar’s office one property violation is being overlooked every 10 minutes. And the blatant fact is that these offices of impurity tell us that “the government has fixed charges for this deal” – may I know what is the meaning of charges here?

Yeddy I know you are a person who feels bad if something happens to the 10 crore people of Karnataka. Well, in the Carlton case, it was only 10 people. Which should still make you feel bad, and lose your sleep. Take the same action what you would if these 10 people were from your own family. Punishment is only one remedy. Enhancement of fire fighting capabilities is the NEXT BIGGEST CHALLENGE. Are we geared up for this?

Picture this: As the fire alarm sets off in my company, and I proceed to take the nearest emergency exit, some people continue working as though nothing happened, some people hear to the alarm as though its AR Rahman’s next pop hit, and some people say “they get annoyed” asking the security to switch it off as soon as possible. And some go to the cafeteria to take a break. Reason given: Its a usual occurence !!

It takes half an hour for fire to engulf entire floors. And suffocate you to death. The next time an alarm rings – GET THE HELL OUT OF THE BUILDING, it would be well worth an attempt. Atleast you can come to office the next day.

 

India Celebrates 59th Republic day

by njm
859826_45162600


India is celebrating its 59th republic day. It is on this day that the constitution of India came into effect way back in 1950. It also signifies the transition of the control from the British regime to the Indians. While we look back at these 59 years to see what effect the transition of the power and control has done to India, a lot of images flash through the mind immediately. A few of these are stated here to portray the situation better:
The PROS
  1. India made significant progress in the way a democracy is run by bringing in an extremely complex framework to handle this country as years go by. This is called the Constitution of India.
  2. Our country made dynamic strides in education and literacy
  3. Economic progress was extremely fast especially since the last 10 years thanks to economic reforms opening up during each government’s regime
  4. Almost every industry in India is now comparable to a similar industry around the world in terms of its execution, its profits or its sheer leadership prowess
  5. Health services improved dramatically over the past 50 years to a level where now our country is regarded as one of the best destination
  6. The common man has grown richer now (though there is still a divide) thanks to technology, knowledge and exercising his rights better in a democracy such as ours
  7. Companies are more customer oriented, more competitive and offer better services than ever before in this country
  8. Infrastructure has seen the biggest leap since a decade and is going places today.
  9. Tax collection has been at its highest since ever and we can now see it being used atleast partially in the right direction
  10. We are beginning to see visionaries in every field however big or small it is. Entrepreneurs are now having a bright chance to show their mettle in todays empowered world
  11. Women are being empowered more and more and reservations have been brought in towards education for those people who should be genuinely standing a chance to study well.
  12. More and more people are turning spiritual knowing fully well that this is the only way to bring order to the country and to bust the stress we are putting ourselves into unwantedly.

The CONS

  1. The education we have is being misused by us to lord above everyone else around us. This is beginning to create cracks and differences everywhere
  2. Our basic sense of being polite to others is now thrown to the wind and we dont want to care about anyone other than ourselves and choose to be rude everywhere and to everyone
  3. The rural-urban divide is either too noticeable or atleast being hyped to be so in demanding special rights to ourselves. This has also led to looting, arson, killings and all else for financial gain
  4. The so called leaders and bureaucrats continue to swindle preciously earned and taxed money leaving genuinely needy people and the citizens in the lurch. It has infact become so pathetic that these people even put their hands on money meant to provide good food and education to the needy children of our country.
  5. The complex constitution of India has made it possible to have several billion loopholes for every thing that we encounter that there is no one being accountable for any of their deeds today
  6. The male domination is once again rearing its head in an ugly way in this decade in a country which is already suffering with this kind of image since years. Its evident how women are oppressed, how cases are not filed or go unnoticed or unheard and how justice takes years to provide a recourse.
  7. The crime graph in almost every city is on the spiralling rise and this can be attributed to both inefficient security systems and change in human attitude in the society of the current context
  8. Terror is gaining an edge over a civilized society and will one day lord over the rest of the good samaritans if left uncontrolled. Though we have enough ways to tackle this menace, we are idling on it to let it grow omniously and silently till one day we find a mammoth problem that has no solution
  9. Stress related diseases on rising to a dangerous level and if we do not choose to remain stress free this country will see more people dying in the shorter term of a few decades from now falling to unnecessary problems of the body, mind and soul.
  10. Financial planning is at an all time low among middle class people as there are many avenues to spend money on today and many people are failing to realize the strength that a secured financial life will provide for ourselves and our families
  11. More and more families are turning nuclear and so are our values, upbringing and our levels of emotion and care. This is not a good sign as we will go towards a path where we begin to care lesser and lesser for the people around us in our family thereby diluting the essence of the family values to the fullest extent.

The list goes on, but so does time. And only time will be the healer to our problems. Every person at one stage in life will have to step down from the mantle of being an irresponsible person and choose to be a mature individual in life. The only question that then remains is at what age of the individual this happens? In my opinion, the sooner, the better.

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