Jumbo explosion promts inspections by Chisinau authorities

The Chisinau City Hall will carry out more inspections at companies in order to prevent tragedies similar to the one that happened in Jumbo mall on February 14, Info-Prim Neo reports. At Monday’s meeting of the City Hall, deputy mayor Mihai Furtuna said that working groups were set up at every district head’s office on February 16 under an ordinance issued by the mayor general. They are composed of the deputy district heads in charge of the social domain and trade and of representatives of the Department for Emergencies, the Centre of Preventive Medicine, the General Division of Trade, Public Food and Service Provision, the Sanitary-Veterinary Service, the General Police Department. The working groups will check how the economic agents observe the fire safety rules and sanitary-epidemiological norms, the quality of the products and how the commercial organisations employ staff. First of all, they will inspect the Chisinau markets, where there are a lot of buyers. The Public Food Division will sanction the economic entities that break the legislation, including by withdrawing the authorisation or suspending the activity, the deputy mayor said. According to Furtuna, the restaurant “Slavianskii Traktir”, where a gas cylinder exploded on February 14, was penalised for using gas tanks without authorisation. Its activity was suspended until all the circumstances are established. Dorin Chirtoaca instructed the five task forces to present the collected information at the end of every working day. They will draw up reports for every company visited and bear responsibility for the possible unpleasant incidents. The mayor said that if the working groups identify irregularities, the Division of Trade and Public Food Division should consider withdrawing the authorisations. The General Prosecutor’s Office started legal proceedings over charges of violation of the fire safety rules in the case of the Jumbo mall blast. The prosecutors are to establish the causes and circumstances of the blast occurred as well as the persons to blame. They will also determine whether the administration of the shopping mall and the fire authorities bear a part of the blame for the accident.