The Energy Department has issued the Circular as ‘Advisory on Installation of the Fire Evacuation Lifts in the High Rise Buildings having height 70 Meters and above.”


Making the ‘Fire Evacuation Lift’ mandatory is seen as a visionary step in providing Safer and Faster route for Fire Officers to reach the higher floors to save lives and assets. Meanwhile, it is one of the safest and fastest modes for evacuating people stranded in emergency situations of fire in High Rise Buildings. Maharashtra has become the first State in India to make Fire Evacuation Lifts mandatory for buildings 70meters and above since January 2018 in what is termed as the solution to mounting emergencies during fire-fighting.

As part of the evacuation solutions, many Developers of High - Rise Buildings in the cities like Mumbai have installed or are currently opting to install non-standardized or low graded Fire Evacuation solutions/Lifts. However, these Non-standard Fire Solutions/ Evacuation Lifts may not provide right security and safety to people in the event of a fire due to compromise in quality by the builders and regular passenger lift makers. In contrast, the Fire Evacuation Lifts are a far more secure and safer option and are developed by specialized teams of a Fire Evacuation Lift Manufacturer. It protects and enables fire-fighters to reach higher floors faster and evacuate a group of 10-18 people of all ages and abilities including pets at one given time in less than three minutes(i.e. almost 100 people in 30 minutes approximately). 

As per the New Circular, henceforth, it is mandatory to obtain the permission for erection and License for operation of Fire Evacuation Lifts in the State of Maharashtra.

The implementation of the new Circular shall be effective immediately from the date of issue for the upcoming Fire Evacuation Lift installations and shall apply with retrospective effect to the existing Fire Evacuation Lift installations.