Mumbai Grahak Panchayat White Paper on Safety in Electrical Installations in Housing Sector

Electricity is as important as food, clothing and shelter to the mankind. While constructing a house the Electrical installations need to planned and installed in accordance with the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, the Rules and Regulations framed thereunder taking into consideration the applicable Codes and Standards. The rising number of Electrical fire accidents reported in the National Crime Report of 2018 in the residential sector and the major fire incidents occurring recently are signalling the necessity to look into the Electrical safety aspects in the planning and execution of the residential projects. After the fire it is difficult to identify as to who is responsible for the fire accident. Whether it is due to insufficient provision in civil design by the Developer/Architect, faulty Electrical design by the MEP Consultant, improper execution or unskilled/ faulty workmanship by the Electrical Contractor. Each one shirks away the liability and the home buyers are left to suffer.

This is an exercise to study the adequacy of the existing laws, codes, standards and practices and to recommend solution to fix the gaps, if any, in the applicable law in force and the practices followed by the various professionals associated with the construction. We gathered inputs from professionals like Developers Architects, Electrical Consultants, Electrical Contractors and the industry bodies by way of survey, discussion and personal interviews. We considered the applicable laws and the practices followed by the above to identify the gaps and suggest some means to plug those.