E-Paper
Citizens demand annual fire audit of Fashion Street
On March 26, 2021, as many as 600 shops had been completely gutted in a major fire at Fashion Street
With increased footfalls leading to congestion at Fashion Street ever since the business hub was opened to the general public following relaxation of Covid-19 norms, citizens and shoppers have now demanded that a fire audit of the busy thoroughfare be conducted every year for safety purposes.
Shopper Pranav Dabhade said, “Fashion Street is very crowded these days and there is no place for the fire tender to enter as vehicles are indiscriminately parked. We appeal to the cantonment administration to conduct a fire audit of Fashion Street every year as part of a regular exercise.”
According to the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) officials, the shops at Fashion Street are close to each other and the connecting lanes too are extremely congested and need to be audited once again for fire safety norms. On March 26, 2021, as many as 600 shops had been completely gutted in a major fire at Fashion Street and while there were no casualties, the head of PCB’s fire department had been killed in a road accident while returning home after dousing the fire.
The then CEO of the PCB, Amit Kumar, had ordered that status quo be maintained at Fashion Street reasoning that he did not want the lives of citizens including vendors in danger in future such incidents. The then board administration had issued a public notice stating that vendors were carrying out illegal constructions against the Cantonment Act. The board had written to the Pune police to take action against illegal construction at Fashion Street and requested them to register an FIR, if necessary. The compromise decree with the vendors is pending in court and till further orders, the hawkers cannot be legally evicted from the premises. There was no sanction for the construction of permanent structures as per the original decree, the notice said. The current CEO of the PCB, Subrat Pal, could not be reached for comments.
