Dear Industry Colleagues,

Greetings from IEIA!

Reference to the newly introduced fire scrutiny fees for exhibitions in Mumbai, IEIA had submitted several representations to the Govt. of Maharashtra regarding the concerns facing the Exhibition Organisers in terms of the undue burden of paying exorbitant amounts towards this fee. Despite various representations by the affected organisations, no relief was given in the notification issued on 31st March, 2022 for the applicable fees for FY 2022-23.

Following up on our representations, a meeting was held with the officials of MAITRI (Maharashtra Industry, Trade and Investors Cell) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Harshadeep Kamble, IAS- Development Commissioner (Ind.) and Secretary, Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Council on 6th April, 2022 for discussions on our submissions including the matters of NESCO, CIDCO and fire permissions.

During the aforesaid meeting, IEIA received positive assurance of relief for the organisers in terms of substantial reduction of the fees, which was further confirmed during the stakeholders meet conducted by MAITRI on 27th April, 2022. IEIA was also in touch with the Chief Fire Officer’s office regularly on this matter and had received positive assurance of relief in terms of reduction in this fee.

Pleased to share that as positive outcome of IEIA’s efforts in this direction, MCGM has announced reduction in the fire scrutiny fees for exhibitions in Mumbai, as mentioned in the enclosed notification issued on 25th May, 2022. In this regard, a written update from the MAITRI office is also available with IEIA on record.

Members of IEIA’s Exhibitions Organisers Sub-Committee (EOSC) have been pro-actively working on this matter in order to ensure resolution of the concerns facing the exhibitions sector in Maharashtra.

For more details, please contact: [email protected]