CM unveils online portal for fire safety certificate renewal

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday inaugurated the Portal for Online Renewal of Fire Safety Certificate at the Delhi Secretariat in the presence of Delhi’s Home and Education Minister, Ashish Sood, and senior officials of the Delhi Fire Service (DFS). Developed jointly by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Delhi Government, the portal modernises and streamlines the fire safety renewal process in a fundamental way. Calling the initiative an important milestone in advancing transparent and technology-driven governance, the Chief Minister said it would greatly strengthen the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ environment in the national Capital. The Chief Minister noted that over the past eight months, the Delhi Government has introduced several historic reforms benefitting traders, citizens, and institutions across the city. Processes relating to fire permits, licensing, and other statutory approvals have been simplified, made more transparent, and integrated through a single-window mechanism. Earlier, multiple agencies were involved, resulting in procedural delays and inconvenience. Clear departmental accountability has now been established, and responsibility for issuing the final certificate rests with the Speaking on the occasion, Delhi’s Home Minister Ashish Sood said, “The objective is to make governance simpler, more efficient, and empowering for citizens. He said the new portal exemplifies this vision by enabling hassle-free, transparent renewal of Fire Clearance Certificates for residential and commercial establishments once their three-year (commercial) or five-year (residential) validity expires. He highlighted that the system has been designed to be extremely user-friendly. Applicants need to provide only four basic details- the address of the premises, PAN number, CA number on the electricity bill, and the previous Fire Clearance Certificate number. Previously, the Fire Safety Certificate (FSC) renewal process was entirely manual and offline, posing substantial challenges for applicants as well as the Delhi Fire Service. Applicants were required to visit DFS offices repeatedly for verification and document submission, which had to be provided in hard copy. Manual file processing led to frequent delays, risk of misplaced documents, and inadequate transparency. Even obtaining a status update required a physical visit, making the system time-consuming and inefficient. The new online system has transformed the process into a fully digital, paperless, and citizen-friendly workflow. Applicants can now submit their renewal form digitally along with three essential documents. Automated, zone-based routing ensures that applications are instantly forwarded to the relevant officers, Scrutiny Assistant, ADO, Divisional Officer, Deputy Chief Fire Officer, and Chief Fire Officer/Director. During inspection, the ADO visits the premises and uploads the inspection report directly to the portal. Once approvals are completed, the Fire Safety Certificate is automatically generated and issued online. Applicants receive SMS and email notifications at every stage and can download the final FSC from the portal with ease.