MUMBAI: Two large restaurants on its top storey, a major electronics showroom in its basement, and more than 210 shops selling highly flammable goods – and yet Link Square, the shopping complex in Bandra reduced to cinders on April 29, did not have a working fire-fighting system.
Moreover, the fire-fighting system installed in the shopping complex was a manual one, not an automated system, another crucial flaw. Worse, even the manual system was non-operational.
These were the highlights of an internal inquiry report prepared by the Mumbai Fire Brigade, which investigated the massive blaze that broke out in the Croma showroom in the basement in the wee hours of April 29. The fire quickly spread to the upper storeys, taking 12 hours to bring under control, and 21 to completely douse. It was categorised as a level 4 fire, the highest intensity of fires that requires maximum deployment of fire-fighting mechanisms.
The fire brigade report states that Link Square’s manual fire-safety system needed human intervention to operate. It consisted of hose pipes and fire extinguishers, instead of an automated system that activates sprinklers using smoke sensors. Compounding the problem, the system was non-functional.
The Link Square shopping complex, whose major stakeholder is former MLA Zeeshan Siddique, had a licenced private agency overseeing its fire-fighting system. “If the agency in charge of auditing and maintaining the system had pointed out the lapses, the fire would not have raged as it did and the damage would have been less severe,” said a civic official. The fire brigade report has recommended investigating the private agency.
{{/usCountry}}The Link Square shopping complex, whose major stakeholder is former MLA Zeeshan Siddique, had a licenced private agency overseeing its fire-fighting system. “If the agency in charge of auditing and maintaining the system had pointed out the lapses, the fire would not have raged as it did and the damage would have been less severe,” said a civic official. The fire brigade report has recommended investigating the private agency.
{{/usCountry}}Prima facie, there did not appear to be any structural alterations to the building. Even so, the report has suggested a structural audit of the burnt-out shell through an empanelled auditor.
Many shop-keepers, who ran their small businesses from shops in Link Square, are hoping to get some compensation for their lost livelihoods due to the blaze. “We were told that our case would be considered after the report was submitted. Now we can pursue legal options,” said Hema Gadia, a salon-owner, who ran a thriving business in the shopping complex.
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