After fire in meter room, MSEB’s ₹15L repair bill

After last week’s fire at the Jagruti Cooperative Housing Society in Mulund West, the residents are now faced with a new trauma: a bill of a whopping ₹15 lakh from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to repair the meter room from where the fire spread

MUMBAI: After last week’s fire at the Jagruti Cooperative Housing Society in Mulund West, the residents are now faced with a new trauma: a bill of a whopping ₹15 lakh from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to repair the meter room from where the fire spread. The cost will have to be borne by the society’s 56 families, who are unsure how to meet it.

According to the Mumbai fire brigade’s report, a defective electric circuit in the meter room caused the fire, which spread to the electric cables. (HT Photo)

According to the Mumbai fire brigade’s report, a defective electric circuit in the meter room caused the fire, which spread to the electric cables. The smoke rapidly engulfed the building’s seven floors, leading to panic and a few residents falling unconscious. Ten residents, including three children, were hospitalised last Wednesday, and 80 more residents rescued. All the residents were treated with non-invasive oxygen support for smoke inhalation.

Anant S Panchal, secretary of Jagruti CHS, told HT that residents, worried about the bill levied by MSEB to repair the meter room, were all shifting to their relatives’ homes. “The society has no funds, and people are not financially stable enough to be able to afford this bill,” he said. “It will take at least one month to generate the amount from 56 families.” Jagruti CHS is a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) building.

A ground-floor resident said he had sent his family members to his relatives’ house while he stayed back and was living without electricity. “Each flat has to shell out ₹25,000 towards the ₹15-lakh bill, but we don’t have the money,” he said. “We are getting water supply but residents cannot live without electricity in this heat. They spend time here in the mornings and return to their relatives’ home at night.”

Jagruti CHS was earlier a slum known as Vitthal Nagar. Dubey said the residents had received the one-room flats under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme 15 years earlier. No notice has been issued to the building under the Maharashtra Fire Safety and Prevention Act, 2006.