Delhi Chief Fire Officer interview: ‘We need more than 12,000 firefighters but have only about 2,500’

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Delhi Fire Service Chief Fire Office A.K. Malik during a interview in New Delhi on Tuesday (August 18, 2026). | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

How would you assess Delhi’s overall fire-safety preparedness? What are the biggest risks?

Delhi has varied fire risks because of its geography and construction. Old Delhi, for instance, has narrow, congested lanes, interconnected buildings and tangled overhead wires, making access difficult.

Delhi’s building by-laws were introduced in 1957 and revised in 1983 and 2016, but much of the city has not developed in accordance with them. The city has more than 1,000 unauthorised colonies and around 80% of it is unplanned.

Fire prevention and preparedness have not kept pace with this development. The by-laws and Fire Services infrastructure have not expanded sufficiently, leaving a wide gap in prevention, applicability and enforcement. Our preparedness is therefore only average and not up to the mark for the Capital.

Despite regulations and inspections, violations continue. Where is the biggest gap?

Around 80% of construction in Delhi is unplanned. Such building plans often never reach the Municipal Corporation of Delhi or the building authority and, consequently, do not come to the Fire Department for a Fire Safety Certificate (FSC) or Fire No Objection Certificate.

Only about 5% of buildings in Delhi have Occupancy Certificates. The primary responsibility lies with the building authority to ensure that construction and occupation are in accordance with approved plans.

Under Rule 34, the Fire Department inspects specified categories of buildings and ensures compliance with fire-safety provisions. But once a building is constructed, the prescribed requirements have to be followed.

Fire safety starts with the fundamentals — structural safety, staircases, travel distance and evacuation provisions. If passive fire protection is inadequate, merely retrofitting active systems cannot solve the problem.

The government believes third-party certification can improve compliance. A notification was issued on May 26, 2026, and implementation is under way.

Its impact is yet to be seen. But our data show that in 2024-25, of the 36,000 calls attended by the department, only 1% came from buildings that had been issued FSCs by the department. This indicates that buildings certified by the Fire Department have largely remained safe from fire.

Third-party agencies must therefore be properly registered and selected for their experience and competence. Their ethical conduct will also be critical.