AMC’s SOPs announced, only two out of 58 venues in Ahmedabad have received fire NOCs till Friday to host garba

Just two days before Navratri begins, only two of the 58 online applications were granted fire NOC to host garba until Friday, according to Chief Fire Officer Amit Dongre.

The Fire Department of the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) seeking compliance of 32 parameters  from organisers to hold garba events at public venues and party plots. 

With Navratri set to begin on Monday, organisers and revellers are wondering how the department will manage to inspect the remaining 56 venues and issue NOCs in just two days.

This has created an unprecedented situation at Ahmedabad’s Fire Department. Even senior officials appear to lack full clarity about the procedures to be carried out. When the SOP was issued—just three days before the events—organisers were also instructed to submit a hard copy of their applications at the Jamalpur Fire Station. In previous years, most organisers would receive their fire NOCs after inspections were completed well before the start of Navratri celebrations.

The chief fire officer, however, has assured that “everything will be cleared by then”.