Following the fire at Kamala Mills Compound in Mumbai that killed 14 people, the Pune Municipal Corporation fire department conducted a survey of rooftop restaurant Teddy Boy in Baner and served a closure notice to the restaurant for flouting fire safety norms and running an illegal rooftop bar. The residents of Pallod Farms had approached the mayor’s office after the Kamala Mills tragedy to request a fire safety inspection of the said restaurant by the chief fire officer.
“The mayor's office was prompt in forwarding our request to the fire department and they conducted an inspection. Following this, as the fire safety provisions set by the fire department was found to be flouted, a shutdown notice was served to Teddy Boy. They were also operating an illegal rooftop restaurant,” said the Pallod Farms 1 residents.
The restaurant was running an illegal bar on the rooftop and have been given two days to cease operation. The notice dated January 17 distinctly states that this is the second notice to the hotel. “We inspected the entire building, Deron Heights, from the basement to the ninth floor, and found that fire safety measures were not up to the mark. Though we had given a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the year 2017-18, the hotel was running an illegal bar on the rooftop. Acknowledging this, we have issued a closure notice to the hotel owners,” said chief fire officer Prashant Ranpise. He also stated that the action on the notice will be further taken up by PMC’s anti-encroachment department as well as the city police.
Owner of Teddy Boy, Nitin Agarwal, said, “We were handed the notice late in the evening of January 18. Despite having an NOC from the fire department, we have been asked to close our rooftop area. We have already stopped the bar and people only go to the roof to sit. We have gone to court against the fire department and PMC for issuing the notice.”
{{/usCountry}}Owner of Teddy Boy, Nitin Agarwal, said, “We were handed the notice late in the evening of January 18. Despite having an NOC from the fire department, we have been asked to close our rooftop area. We have already stopped the bar and people only go to the roof to sit. We have gone to court against the fire department and PMC for issuing the notice.”
{{/usCountry}}According to residents, there are plenty of encroachments in Deron Heights, which would make the building incompatible with the set fire safety norms, which seems to have been completely overlooked by the different organisations functioning in the building. According to a resident who wished to remain anonymous, “Irish Village also runs a serving space on the terrace, but they haven't been given a notice probably because of their political connections.”