Mumbai Mall fire: Report blames 2 fire officers, mall and hospital management

mehul

mehul.thakkar@htlive.com

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In a rare instance, a report by the civic body in the fire at Bhandup’s Dreams Mall has recommended a thorough probe into lapses by top fire brigade officials. The report also recommended action against the owner/management of the mall and the hospital inside it, and a criminal case against the safety audit agency.

The inquiry report into March 25 level-4 fire at Bhandup’s Dream Mall, which had killed nine Covid-19 patients at Sunrise Hospital housed inside the mall, has recommended a full-fledged departmental enquiry (FFDE) against Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB)’s assistant divisional fire officer Rajendra Ghadge and the then chief fire officer SA Kale for “not following the rules and carrying out a proper inspection” of the mall last November. The report has also stated that a criminal case be filed against the owners/management of Dreams Mall and Sunrise Hospital, holding them responsible for the incident.

The report, which was submitted and approved by municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal on Tuesday, has blamed the hospital and mall management for non-compliance of several norms and stated that both failed to take proper precautions as per the Maharashtra Fire Safety Act, 2006. The report has also asked the civic body to have MFB follow up with the police on the criminal cases filed against the hospital and mall’s owner/management for lapses in complying with fire safety norms.

The probe report prepared by disaster management cell’s deputy municipal commissioner Prabhat Rahangdale has stated that a private firm – a licenced agency tasked with ensuring the mall’s fire safety compliance – had submitted a report that the firefighting equipment of the mall was working and all compliances were looked into for the period between July 1 and December 31, 2020. However, the preliminary report stated that on the day of the fire, none of the firefighting equipment was working.

The report has recommended that the private agency’s licence be cancelled by the director of the Maharashtra Fire Services, and asked the chief fire officer to file a criminal case against the company. The report has also asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to take action against the banquet owner on the malls’ second floor for storing 45 LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders, despite having permission to only store two.

According to the report submitted to Chahal, BMC had asked for an audit of all malls after the blaze at City Central mall in south Mumbai last October.

“As per the circular issued by BMC chief in 2018, the J fire compliance form issued by assistant divisional fire officer (ADFO) Rajendra Ghadge was to be given with signature of chief fire officer, but Gadge gave it without the CFO’s sign. On asking the reason, Ghadge said he did the same on oral instructions from the then CFO SA Kale. This was in violation of rules. Kale was the deputy CFO of that region and holding charge of CFO. It was expected that he should have followed the circular issued by the municipal commissioner in 2018. An FFDE is recommended against the two,” the report stated.

Kale was not available for a comment despite repeated attempts.

It further added that after carrying out the mall’s inspection in November 2020, Ghadge had given 60 days to submit a compliance report that was submitted in February 2021, as he was down with Covid-19 in January. According to MFB officials, instead of taking further action on the compliance report by visiting and checking the compliance, Ghadge submitted the report to BMC.

When contacted, Ghadge said, “I forwarded the compliance report because I was told via control message to do without CFO’s sign. More than 700 forms by fire officials were submitted without the signature of CFO. Also, I did not go for inspection because the mall did not come under my purview directly. Hence, I forwarded the report to the fire station concerned for further compliance.” The report has blamed the mall and hospital management for ignoring warnings from the fire brigade and BMC and not taking any corrective action.

“It is recommended to cut off the water and electric supply of the mall and file a criminal case against the owners and directors of Dreams Mall, and Sunrise Hospital’s owners Ms Privilege Healthcare, as they are to be blamed for the incident,” Rahangdale said in his report.

When contacted, Sunrise Hospital in a statement, said, “The fire report clearly stated that no fire incident occurred at Sunrise Hospital. The hospital is delinked from the mall and had all compliance in place. The report prepared by BMC and fire brigade dept clearly states that the fire was due to faulty electric circuit in shop No 140 on the upper ground floor of the mall. The spread of the fire is attributed to the lack of functioning sprinkler system of the entire mall. It must be noted that the said lapses are attributable to the administrator of the mall Rahul P Sahasrabuddhe, who was appointed by NCLT Mumbai vide order dated 31.08.2019 with the specific mandate to look after the mall premises and ensure that the same is not hazardous to its occupants.”

However, Sahasrabuddhe said, “The said report holds up all the irregularities at Dreams Mall which was brought up by the administrator time and again before various authorities including MCGM (BMC). All my complaints filed with the government authorities about non-availability of water and electricity in the mall, leakage by the hospital and banquet hall, use of cylinders by the banquet hall was never redressed. I have protested about giving permission to the hospital without following any safety measures to MCGM and fire brigade, time and again, but no action has been taken. Had my complaints been heard by authorities in time, the tragedy would have certainly been avoided.”

As part of its recommendations, the report has said that the existing standard operating procedure (SOP) be tweaked to adjust to Covid-19 pandemic situation. The report has also recommended that a new fire hazard response and mitigation plan be created for Mumbai. The report has recommended that it is not possible to follow conventional fire safety norms in all old hospitals. There should be water mist systems installed in all ICU wards urgently and two firefighters from licenced agencies must be deployed at all times at these wards.