Hours after fire guts eatery, Bandra mall back to business as usual

By evening, when Hindustan Times visited the mall, it was business as usual on floors not affected by the blaze, though the entire ground plus five storey commercial building reeked of smoke

Mumbai: Twelve years after a blaze ripped through a lounge bar in VN Sphere mall along Linking Road in Bandra, a fire broke out at an eatery in the same mall on Friday. The fire was reported early in the morning and was confined to the kitchen and dining area of the chain eatery, Foo Asian Tapas. It was extinguished by 9am, with no casualties reported.

The fire was extinguished by 9am, with no casualties reported. (Satish Bate/Hindustan Times)

By evening, when Hindustan Times visited the mall, it was business as usual on floors not affected by the blaze, though the entire ground plus five storey commercial building reeked of smoke. A narrow staircase outside Foo was partially blocked, hampering movement, and two elevators which were shut for a few hours after the fire, requiring consumers to take the stairs, were back in operation.

Jeevan, who works with a health facility on the second floor of the mall and had stayed over at the facility overnight, had a narrow escape. Speaking to Hindustan Times, he said he was unable to hear the fire alarm as he was in an air-conditioned room, but woke up because of the smoke that spread throughout the building.

According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire was reported at 6.02am and the fire brigade declared a level-II fire at 6.28am. Multiple fire engines, water tankers and firefighting vehicles were pressed into service and the flames were doused by 9am, followed by cooling operations and a detailed inspection, said deputy fire officer HV Girkar.

While the fire department has not specified the cause of the fire yet, a staff member at one of the establishments in the mall suspected that welding work underway at Foo Asian Tapas may have contributed to it. “Possibly, a spark from the welding work triggered the fire,” the staffer said.

However, a staffer at Foo claimed that the fire may have been sparked by a short circuit. Dinesh Pallawad, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, H West Ward too said the fire was likely caused by a short circuit and a detailed report would be prepared within a few days.

Former civic corporator from Bandra, Asif Zakaria, suspected that unauthorised construction and legal violations were behind Friday’s fire, as was found after a blaze gutted Escobar, a lounge bar, located on the floor above Foo on October 11, 2014.

That fire too broke out in the morning and the BMC subsequently issued notices to the establishment, saying it had found structural additions and alterations that differed from the approved plan.

“Even now, I suspect there are violations inside the mall. A commercial establishment operates from the basement. But aren’t basements meant only for parking,” he asked.

Pallawad said no investigation has been conducted thus far on violations within the building, which had multiple owners.

Representatives of the Foo Asian Tapas restaurant chain could not be contacted for comments on the incident.