‘Maintenance fees unaffordable, no water for 20 years’

Of the 65 families in Jay Bhavani, 40-odd residents are traditional ‘bartanwallas’, belonging to a tribe that barters old clothes for new utensils. It was their nylon and polyester clothes stored in the stilt area that became the main cause of their ruin as the fire escalated to Level 2

MUMBAI: The fire at the Jay Bhavani Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) building in Goregaon West, which killed seven people and injured 69 on Friday, has focused attention once again on a much larger issue: how impoverished slum residents moved into SRA buildings are expected to shell out ₹500 per month as maintenance fees besides living without basic amenities like water.

Mumbai, India - Oct. 6, 2023: Seven dead, 61 injured as massive fire breaks out at Jai Bhavani SRA Building, Goregaon building in Mumbai, India, on Friday, October 6, 2023. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Of the 65 families in Jay Bhavani, 40-odd residents are traditional ‘bartanwallas’, belonging to a tribe that barters old clothes for new utensils. It was their nylon and polyester clothes stored in the stilt area that became the main cause of their ruin as the fire escalated to Level 2.

Balwant M, a resident of the society, said that he and his neighbours were mainly daily wage earners. “A majority of residents don’t pay the monthly maintenance of ₹500, as they cannot afford to,” he said. “We barely make money to eat. Where do we get money for building maintenance? The lift has stopped functioning for three years.”

The SRA housing society has neither a firefighting system nor something as basic as a water connection. Its situation is so dire that the residents’ day begins with literally begging for water. “For 20 years, we have been struggling for water,” said Balwant. “A nearby temple gives us some on humanitarian grounds. Since we are uneducated, we don’t know what arrangement the builder had with the SRA and the BMC to procure an occupation certificate without providing basic amenities. Please conduct a survey to discover the vast difference between the saleable component of this SRA project and our building.”

Balwant now has to take a ₹2 lakh loan to recover the losses incurred on account of his goods being gutted in the fire. “The vehicle I had purchased to conduct my business was also gutted,” he said. “This fire has destroyed our lives. We were much better off in the slums.”

Ravindra Ambulgekar, acting chief fire officer, said that prima facie, the fire started in the stilt area due to the combustible clothes stored by the bartan wallahs. “There were vehicles too, and the petrol in them aggravated the situation,” he said. Ambulgekar added that the building lift had a collapsible gate, which shut down before the smoke and fire travelled upwards. “If the residents had been in their rooms, they would have been saved,” he said. “They tried to escape via the corridor, which was smoke-logged. The smoke came from the nylon, polyester and zari which formed carbon soot.”

Civic chief Iqbal Singh Chahal, on CM Eknath Shinde’s directions, has set up an eight-member committee chaired by additional municipal commissioner Sudhakar Shinde with deputy municipal commissioner Vishwas Shankarwar as member secretary. The committee will investigate the cause of the fire and pin responsibility for this as well as for the lack of fire-fighting machinery, equipment and staff, and make recommendations to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in future. It is expected to submit a report within seven days.