Fire can both be a boon and a bane. When owning a shop or home, basic protection measures should be taken. Avoiding this is a serious crime.
The Kurla civic ward compared to other civic wards is densely populated and has around 10 lakh population and total 16 corporators look after the sixteen inter-ward needs and requirements. As the ward has to cater a large number of people, therefore, a proposal to split the ward into two division has been made much earlier said Ajit Kumar Ambi, the Assistant Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Kurla civic ward. However, the proposal is pending before the BMC group leaders meeting. This comes after a one-storeyed farsan workshop gutted in a fire killing twelve people, once again showed the apathy of the civic body about the illegal establishment which was running under the nose of BMC from last one and a half year.
Ambi added the split of the ward is required as it will help smooth functioning while providing the services. Also, only six staff members are available to do the inspection. Hence, from doing registration to inspecting the shops and other entities is a difficult job.
Another civic officer from shops and establishment department who do not wish to be named stated in Kurla ward there are 60,000 shops which have been registered. In addition, supervising the new shops and the old one is almost impossible. Also, being a dense slum pocket area there are many small-scale factories over here. And if BMC initiates any action then there is always a political pressure or a stay order of Bombay High Court which comes to their rescue.
Ravi Raja, the Leader of Opposition and also Group Leader of Congress party, stated there are many wards which need to be divided for easy functioning. However, the Kurla ward to be split into two division proposal was sent a year back and was taken back for some changes to be done, therefore it has to come from the administration now.
Ramesh Bhanushali, the owner of the farsan shop that was gutted early on Monday morning, killing at least 12 workers, was finally arrested from his residence and an FIR was lodged against him. According to Avinash Dharmadhikari, Senior Police Inspector, Saki Naka police station, “Ramesh Bhanushali, the owner of the farsan shop has been arrested and an FIR has been filed against him.”
The FIR been filed against Bhanushali is for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304), negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter (Section 285), causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others (Section 337) of the IPC and no person shall newly establish in any premises any factory, workshop or workplace in which it is intended that stream, water (electrical) or other mechanical power shall be employed, without the previous written permission of the Commissioner, nor shall any person work, or allow to be worked, any such factory, workshop or workplace without such permission (Section 390) and except under and or in accordance with the terms and conditions of the licence granted by the Commissioner, no person shall keep, or suffer or allow to be kept, in or upon any premises (Section 394) of the BMC Act.
A visually-impaired woman ended up saving a few lives when she alerted her son in the nick of time as a major fire broke out at a farsan shop in suburban Saki Naka-Kurla area in the wee hours of the morning on Monday.
Twelve others, mostly workers sleeping in the shop located at Makaria Compound on the Khairani road, died in the blaze.
“We live in a room in the front side of the building (which also houses the farsan shop-cum-factory). My mother, who cannot see, heard loud noise between 3 and 4 am. She woke me up, thinking that some thieves have broken into the building,” said Tushar Pawar (27).
“We then rushed out and heard loud explosions. Realising that there was a fire, we raised alarm, and five or six people who live in the front side came out,” he said.
“We tried to douse the flames by pouring water. But we soon realized it was beyond our control, so we immediately called the fire brigade,” he said.
According to Pawar, since the fire broke out in the mid-section of the one-story structure housing the farsan shop-cum-factory, those who were inside, mostly workers, could not come out.
Interestingly, Tushar and his brother Tejas, who had a house adjacent to the workshop and live along with their mother, survived. “My brother was at work and I was home with my old mother. The blast and smell of kerosene woke us up. We were lucky enough to run out of the houses before the fire engulfed the workshop along with our home,” said Tushar.
He added that he saw people, trying to escape but they couldn’t due to a glass door at the staircase. “In no time the entire structure went in flames along with our home. We have been living here for past two decades and the workshop has been here since then,” he added.
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