State administration changes fire drill due to stampede fears

Just one stairway for over 2,000 workers at New Administrative Building; drill now scheduled for Friday

    Fearing a stampede, the State administration has been forced to alter its plan for an evacuation drill scheduled at the 19-storey New Administrative Building opposite the Mantralaya on Friday, July 6. 

    The plan was to cover the entire building during the drill, but will now only involve the first ten floors. The drill is part of the State administration's emergency preparedness tests, after its disaster management was horribly exposed during the June 21 Mantralaya blaze that killed five persons. 
    On Monday, a rescue drill was held at Mantralaya — the first of its kind in the 57-year-old building — in which the Home Guards and personnel from the fire service, Mantralaya security and the Mumbai police among others participated. 
    According to Friday's drill plans, a fire alarm will be sounded in the afternoon, following which all the lifts will be brought to the ground floor, and the staff will be escorted out of the building through a staircase. However, the officials realised that the building, which has a staff of 2,000, has just one stairway. 
    A senior official from the State government said, "Mantralaya has more than eight stairways, while the New Administrative Building has just one. The Fire Brigade warned that once the elevators were turned off, there could be a stampede on the staircase." 
    Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development) T C Benjamin, who is in charge of conducting the drills, confirmed there is a change in plan. "Now, the drill will cover only the first ten floors," he said. After the June 21 blaze, the fire brigade officials had warned that the casualties could be worse if a similar mishap occurred at the New Administrative Building.

Fire engines near Mantralaya on Monday