Old buildings, no fire station — disasters are waiting to happen here

Worse, with the area’s buildings averaging 70 or 80 years of age, a very large percentage having undergone illegal alterations, Bhuleshwar and Kalbadevi have emerged as the most dangerous parts of Mumbai. In the eventuality of a blaze or a structure collapse, rescue efforts are also severely hampered by the narrow lanes with buildings lined up very close to each other, as was apparent in the Gokul Nivas fire of 2015 that claimed lives of four senior fire officers.

Fire officials admit the complexities of the area make it difficult for fire engines and ambulances to reach the spot of a tragedy. “The buildings in Bhuleshwar, Kalbadevi and other areas were originally meant for residential purposes. Over the years, they have been converted into commercial buildings with many illegalities. They have extensive wood work, which leads to a fire spreading rapidly. The buildings are also very old and without any fire fighting equipment. Often, we are not able to reach an incident spot within the golden hour, due to narrow bylanes, roadside parking and the generally congested area,” said a senior fire officer.

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This part of Mumbai also houses some of the city’s oldest markets, such as the Mulji Jetha Market for textiles, multiple hubs of jewellery-making units, electricals, stationery and other markets. “Some industries, such as the goldsmiths, or the hosiery trade, are prone to fires. And the use of gas cylinders in the commercial markets aggravates every fire, leading to casualties,” the officer added.

Following the Kalbadevi fire of 2015, the Mumbai fire brigade is now in the process of introducing 20 mini fire stations to tackle incidents in congested areas. C Ward will get one of these.

Spreading across Mumbadevi, Bhuleshwar, Chira Bazar, Chandanwadi, part of Marine Lines and surrounding areas, the ward has a population of 1.68 lakh. At 1.91 square kilometres, it’s the smallest of the 24 administrative wards. The market areas bring in a daily floating population of around 7 lakh.

Yugandhara Salekar, Shiv Sena corporator from Bhuleshwar, says difficulties in redevelopment of the old buildings here need urgent resolution. “The people of Mumbadevi are the original inhabitants of Mumbai. They can’t be forced to live in the suburbs after generations of their families lived here,” she said. The new Development Control rules mandating a 6-metre distance of buildings from the road line has stalled redevelopment projects. “The state government must make cluster redevelopment mandatory, with houses of 450 square feet,” she added.

Salekar agrees that it’s a ward with disasters waiting to happen. “A JCB machine is used for road work and a building starts trembling,” she said.

Another corporator said despite the fact that a huge majority of buildings had illegal additions or alterations, the post of an assistant engineer for the building and factory department in the ward had remained vacant for two years now.

The Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project, one of the first cluster redevelopment projects in Mumbai involving the transformation of 16.5 acres of 250 dilapidated buildings housing 3,200 families and 1,250 shops into well-planned clusters of 17 new highrises, wide roads, parks and other amenities, is now under way.

Samajwadi Party corporator Yaqub Memon said garbage collection was another serious issue in the ward. “People throw garbage into the house gullies, which then chokes sewer lines,” he said.

At present, the ward has two Shiv Sena corporators, and one corporator each from BJP and SP. In the recent delimitation and reservation exercise, the four corporator wards have been reduced to three.