Cine workers’ body urges CM to conduct in-depth enquiry into studio fire

MUMBAI: All Indian Cine Workers Association has written to chief minister Eknath Shinde, requesting an in-depth enquiry into the fire that engulfed a few sets of television shows in the Film City in Goregaon on March 10

MUMBAI: All Indian Cine Workers Association has written to chief minister Eknath Shinde, requesting an in-depth enquiry into the fire that engulfed a few sets of television shows in the Film City in Goregaon on March 10. The association has also requested the CM to come up with fire safety norms for television sets.

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On March 10, a fire broke on the sets of the television show, “Gum Hai Kisi Ke Pyar Mein” which, the association claimed, not only endangered the lives of hundreds of workers on this set and those adjacent to it but also left the sets of two other shows completely charred. Signed by the president of the association Shyamlal Gupta, the letter points out how despite the presence of children on the sets, no fire safety norms were in place.

“This amounts to negligence on the part of the channel, producers and the production house. They must be held accountable for their actions. An FIR must be registered against them,” said Gupta.

He also brought up the fact that such fires are a common occurrence on TV show sets. Last year, for instance, a fire broke out at Chitrakoot Studios, Andheri in which a crew member lost his life.

“Often, these fires are deliberately lit up for insurance or publicity purposes. None of the sets is fire compliant and the civic authorities just turn a blind eye towards them, perhaps in exchange for some bribe. Not having a trained fire marshal and complying with other safety norms also saved the producers a lot of money,” said Gupta.

He insisted that this case be made into an example. “If the enquiry finds foul play or negligence, all those who could have prevented the mishap should be punished appropriately. The production houses whose sets frequently have such issues, and put the lives of poor workers at risk, must be blacklisted hereafter,” he said. Gupta said that this would only be possible with safety norms, especially those related to fire safety, which are made mandatory for any set.

The matter was also recently noted by criminologist Snehil Dhall who has filed an application in Supreme Court on the issue faced in Aarey Forest. While his application majorly spoke of tree felling, it also referred to forest fires that led to huge patches of the jungle being charred to the ground.

“Some studios had come up in the patch that was thus cleared. When our team approached the fire brigade to ask whether these structures had clearance from them, we were told the NOC was for a temporary structure made up of bamboo and tarpaulin,” he said. On the ground, however, the studios were found to have been more sturdy structures, complete with steel reinforcements, he added.

Dhall agrees with Gupta that several times the studios where such mysterious fires take place are being used by the same producers or production houses, indicating a clear pattern of how they are misusing the resources.