Office-bearers of Chandivali tower booked

MUMBAI: The Powai police on Thursday booked the office-bearers of Lake Lucerne housing society for negligence which caused seven deaths in the Chandivali building fire last week. The police are inquiring into the role of others in the case. The police have not named the accused in the case. They have been booked under IPC sections 304 A (causing death by negligence), 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others), 337 causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (causing grievous hurt by endangering life or personal safety of others).
The fire investigation report on the 22-storey building has pointed towards major faults in the highrise. The Mumbai Fire Brigade on Thursday evening lodged an FIR against the housing society at the Powai police station.
Seven persons, including a woman, died and 28 others were injured in the fire on the 14th floor of the highrise. The fire broke out around 4.15pm and was finally brought under control around 8.30pm, after which a cooling operation started and firemen began to search the building for more victims. Eighteen of the injured were admitted to Hiranandani Hospital in Powai and one was rushed to the National Burns Centre at Airoli with 40% burns.
Like the majority of fire incidents in Mumbai, the fire investigation report has stated the cause of this fire as an electrical short circuit in the air conditioner of a 14th floor flat.
An official said that as per the no-objection certificate given by the fire brigade prior to the building’s construction, there should have been sprinklers from the lobby area onwards till the 14th floor, which was not the case. There were sprinklers only from the 15th floor onwards. “Precious life could have been saved if there were sprinklers in the lobby and upper floors which would have got activated when the fire broke out. Also, there were no signages indicating the refuge area and hence people did not know in which direction they should be heading,” said an official.
Sources from the Fire Brigade said the report has stated serious problems within the building and hence the fire officials decided to go ahead and lodge an FIR. “The investigation officer finalized the report on Thursday. The report has pointed out to a number of anomalies in the building. From there being no sprinklers till the 14th floor of the building to the duct area being sealed completely and illegal parking, it all made it difficult to carry out the fire fighting operations,” said P S Rahangdale, chief fire officer in-charge of the Mumbai Fire Brigade. The report also states that as the duct area was not sealed, spreading the heat and smoke.