‘Fire-fighting equipment was not working, no fire drills in five yrs’

Thursday's fire at Mantralaya could have been tackled better had the firefighting equipment installed in the building been in working condition. The BMC too was found to be illequipped to handle a fire of such a large magnitude. 

    The blaze completely gutted the offices of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, senior cabinet members and senior bureaucrats. "It's shameful. On one hand, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has drafted an ambitious plan to convert Mumbai into a world class city, 
on the other hand, we were unable to control a minor fire that broke out in the urban development department and later spread to all of Mantralaya,'' a senior bureaucrat told TOI. 
    The bureaucrat admitted that in the last five years, the fire-fighting equipment installed throughout Mantralaya was never tested nor was any mock fire drill conducted. A senior public works department official however claimed all necessary precautions were taken. 
    "In the last 10 years, Rs 75 crore was spent on the renovation of the chambers of the CM, DCM, senior cabinet members and bureaucrats, but I don't think we spent even Rs 1 crore to improve the fire-fighting system in Mantralaya,'' the senior bureaucrat said. 
    He said when the fire started at around 2.35pm, forest minister Patangrao Kadam was the first to alert both municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte and police commissioner Arup Patnaik, but the fire brigade was late to respond. According to an eye-witness, the first fire tender reached Mantralaya 15 minutes after a specific message was sent to the control room. Worse, fire brigade ladders were unable to reach beyond the second floor though the fire was raging on the fourth and fifth floors at the time. There was a further delay in securing the services of fire brigade personnel with snorkels. "We lost the golden hour. As a result the fire, which was confined to the fourth floor, later spread to the fifth and sixth floors too. Even water supply to the fire tenders was intermittent. 
    A senior Congress minister, who was in his cabin when the fire broke out, said the fire alarms didn't appear to have gone off and the public address system too failed. "I was in my chamber when the fire broke out and was alerted to it by my peon. But while leaving my chamber, I realized the public address system was non-functional,'' he said. 
    Secondly, the minister said all of Mantralaya had been virtually converted into a godown. A few years ago, when D K Sankaran was the chief secretary, he had removed several tonnes of waste paper from the corridors of Mantralaya. "On Thursday, the fire spread from one floor to another owing to massive piles of waste paper and old furniture lying all over. It's time for the new chief secretary to initiate necessary measures,'' he said. 
    A senior NCP minister said it was the chief fire advisor's responsibility to ensure that all fire-fighting equipment was functional. "I have asked the CM to seek a report, along with specific dates of inspection of equipment and mock drills from the chief fire advisor. If there is dereliction of duty at any level, the CM must take action,'' he said. 
Water shortage? 
    Fire-fighting operations at Mantralaya were reportedly hindered by insuffi cient water. "After 45 minutes, there was no water for 10 minutes. Firemen managed with water from fire hydrants," an eyewitness said. Only after a fi re engine from another agency arrived at 4.45pm did snorkels go up in full force, he said. But Manisha Mhaiskar, additional municipal commissioner, said, "Mantralaya tank has 3 lakh litres of water. As long as fi re-fi ghting was on, there was adequate water supply." Linah Baliga | TNN

LUCKY ESCAPE: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was evacuated after the fire started