Lifts body seeks centralised law for safety, standardisation

The apex body for the lift industry in India, All India Lift Upliftment Federation (AILUF) has demanded a Centralised law for standardisation in the industry to improve safety and quality.

The industry currently faces a lack of standardisation in the licencing and maintenance policies in different states. Hence the body at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) recently held in Ahmedabad, called for bringing standardisation in the processes related to manufacturing, safety, application, servicing, and testing in the industry.

"The Lift Industry is expanding very fast and becoming bigger every year. However, several regulatory issues need to be addressed to boost the industry further. There are clear licensing and maintenance policies related to lifts in a few states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Karnataka, but not in the other states. As a result, there is a lack of standardisation in the industry, which affects quality and safety aspects,” said GR Phulari, President, AILUF.

Established in 2018 and has over 1000 members from across segments, AILUF held its maiden AGM - Utthan - last week in Gandhinagar. The objective of the Federation is to bring the Indian Lift industry on a common platform and to make the sector globally competitive.

Addressing the participants, AB Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Electrical Inspector of Lift and Escalators, said that the Gujarat government is set to introduce an online approval system for lifts.

"We are in the process of launching an online portal for lift related processes. Submission of various forms, payment of challans, submission of application for inspection, and even the final approval will be granted online,” Chaudhary said, adding that the new system is under testing, and is expected to become operational in 1.5 to 2 months.

Chaudhary also stated that various amendments in lift related laws are also in the offing and would be announced in 3-4 months.

According to Shah, Ahmedabad and Mumbai are the hubs of the elevator industry in the country with a 90 per cent share, while Ahmedabad alone has a share of 55-60 per cent.