Set up panel to conduct fire safety audits of restaurants in Maharashtra, demands online petition

The petition has already received 13,188 signatures from citizens in seven days. It aims to get 15,000 signatures.

Following the Kamala Mills Fire which killed 14 people and injured 55, citizens of Mumbai have signed an online petition, urging chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta, and the director of the Maharashtra Fire and Emergency service, MV Deshmukh, to set up a separate committee to conduct regular safety audits of restaurants in Maharashtra.

The Kamala Mills Fire killed 14 people and injured 55 others. (HT File)

The petition has already received 13,188 signatures from citizens in seven days. It aims to get 15,000 signatures.

The petition, filed by Shilpa Shree, stated, “Every time I visit a restaurant from now on, I will have a constant fear of being caught in a fire. 14 people, which included mostly youngsters and four mothers, lost their lives in the recent fire at a restaurant in Kamala Mills.”

The petition requests Fadnavis, Mehta and Deshmukh ‘to form a separate committee that would regularly conduct safety audits at restaurants in Mumbai and Maharashtra. The committee should consist of representatives from: BMC/other municipal corporation, the fire department, citizens- preferably architects, designers, engineers or any other qualified person.’

Further, the petition states that the committee should have the power to heavily penalise restaurants who are found to be violating safety norms. They should also have the power to cancel licenses of restaurants that are repeat offenders.