Fire at Fashion Street was a tragedy waiting to happen

If Friday night’s fire at Fashion Street reduced over 600 shops to ashes within five hours, its alert was sounded around three years ago

If Friday night’s fire at Fashion Street reduced over 600 shops to ashes within five hours, its alert was sounded around three years ago.

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In a statement issued on Saturday, the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) said that the cause of the fire incident on Friday night is not yet clear.

PCB clarified, “There is no cantonment electricity connection and all stallholders obtained electricity connections from MSEDCL. The cantonment has only provided street lighting in the parking area. Some stallholders have taken electricity connections through one common connection of the MSEDCL, and others have taken individual connections. The board has not issued any No Objection Certificate (NOC) for obtaining electricity connection for MSEDCL.”

According to the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB), a report was submitted in 2018 highlighting the “risk” of similar incidents and possible difficulty to deal with it at Fashion Street due to the congested nature of the area.

The joint fire audit report submitted by the chief fire officer, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), and the fire brigade superintendent of PCB was discussed at the special board meeting held in 2018 under the chairmanship of the then PCB president brigadier Rajiv Sethi. The audit report says the market does not have sufficient exit points in case there is a fire and people have to be evacuated.

“It is a very serious matter in respect to the Fashion Street report submitted by the fire department of PMC. Fashion Street has become a risky place for fire incidents. We will be collecting information about owners of all the stalls and take action against any illegal stalls,” Sethi had stated on the record.

“It is required to do a fire safety assessment or audit,” said Dr DN Yadav, CEO of the Board.

In 1997, MG road was cleared of unauthorised vendors and the administration provided these hawkers stalls of five feet by four feet and in total 565 shops came under the agreement.

The report pointed out that many shopkeepers used plastic curtains as partitions, which are hazardous in the event of a fire and the narrow ways inside make it difficult to move. There are stall cafeterias or hotels outside the market which use fuels like LPG and kerosene, the report stated.

According to the records and earlier verification carried out by the revenue staff of PCB, the place is not safe if any fire incident takes place. Also, it is difficult for a fire vehicle or ambulance to reach there due to narrow and congested roads.

According to advocate MV Akolkar, president, MG road hawkers and pathari Seva Sanstha, as many as 448 hawkers were regularised at Fashion Street in 1997 though later some unauthorised hawkers also settled. He also questioned how electricity was provided to these unauthorised hawkers.

“We are regular tenants since 1997 and 448 hawkers were allowed later PCB illegally allowed 200 hawkers inside. The parking space and approach road were encroached. The elected members got a proposal for the reconstruction of fashion Street which we objected to, and the matter is in court. The fire incident is fishy, and this appears to be a conspiracy against the traders. The outside space was encroached by hawkers who were permitted by PCB. The same finds mention in the 2018 fire audit report. Why did the board give NOC for installing electricity metre to illegal hawkers? The board is at fault and it is solely responsible for this current crisis. We suspect foul play in this fire incident,” said Akolkar.

BOX – Second major fire tragedy in camp

On March 16, as many as 25 shops were gutted in an early morning fire at British era Shivaji market located in Pune Cantonment area on Tuesday morning, according to fire officials. No casualties were reported even though property damage is being calculated by the local police.

BOX: - Most heritage structures not on fire audit compliance list of PCB

Over 100 heritage structures under Pune Cantonment area are not on the fire audit list of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB), a revelation that came out after British era Shivaji market in camp was partly gutted in the fire. Among the important heritage structures are Albert Edward Library on East Street opposite Kayani Bakery, which was established in 1975, Victory Theatre which is a 100-year-old colonial-era theatre was once used as a playhouse for the British, 160-year-old Hindustan Covenant Church belonging to the British era which was burnt to ashes in Nov 2011.