Kamala Mills fire to Chennai floods: Why India's regulations aren't working

India’s cities – big and small, in the north and south – are sitting around a bonfire of regulations, basic tenets of urban planning and precious human lives. The December Mumbai fire is the latest reminder. We haven’t learnt our lessons from the gruesome Uphaar Cinema fire that killed 59 people and seriously injured 103 people in the national capital in 1997.

Here are some of the major fire incidents that took place in the last 14 years. Some places that are frequent victims – temples and firecracker units in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, for example – don’t even come under the strict demographic definition of urban areas.

Carlton Towers, Bengaluru, 2010; nine dead, 70 injured.
SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, 2015; 22 dead, 120 injured.
Surya Sen street market, Kolkata, 2013; 19 dead, ten injured.
Amri (Dhakuria) Hospital, Kolkata, 2011; 73 dead.
The Park Street, Kolkata, 2010; 16 dead.
Kurla (West), Mumbai, 2015; eight dead.
Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, 2004; 83 dead, 27 injured – all school children.
Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, 2004; 57 dead, 50 injured.
Nand Nagri, east Delhi, 2011; 15 dead, 65 injured.
The Victoria Park, Meerut, 2006; 65 dead, 81 injured.
Paravur, Kollam, Kerala, 2016; 111 dead, 350 injured.
Mudalipatti, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, 2016; 38 dead, 33 injured.
Mudalipatti, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu, 2012; 54 dead, 78 injured.
Khusropur, Patna, Bihar, 2005; 35 dead, 50 injured.

According to National Crime Records Bureau figures, 17,700 Indians died – 48 people every day – due to fire accidents in 2015. Of those who died, 62% were women. Maharashtra and Gujarat, our two most highly urbanised states, account for about 30% of the country’s fire accident deaths. There is a close correlation between deaths due to fire-related accidents and population density associated with urbanisation.
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