Standing committee meeting adjourned over Dreams Mall fire probe report

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) standing committee meeting was adjourned on Wednesday following protests by corporator members over the submission of a special investigation report on the Dreams Mall fire. In the aftermath of the March 26 fire, a special investigation was launched by the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) led by Disaster Management Manager Prabhat Rahangdale.

 

The panel was given 15 days to submit its findings. BMC officials said the report was submitted to the Municipal Commissioner's Office on April 11. On the day of the incident, the fire extinguishers at the mall and Sunrise Hospital were out of order and investigators have asked the government to revoke the license of the private company responsible for maintaining fire safety. Compliance. 

The report blamed the mall and hospital management for ignoring warnings from BMC officials and ordered an investigation against two fire-fighters to file criminal cases against the owners and directors of the mall and hospital.

 

At the same time, the members of the Standing Committee questioned why the report was not presented at the meeting and submitted it directly to the Commissioner. We all know that the building instructions were asking the city government not to allow the hospital to start operating, but the city government did not pay attention to that, Raja said. This investigation is just wash, which hides loopholes in the administration, he added. Raja's point of order was unanimously supported by members within the party.

 

Prabhakar Shinde, a BJP group leader, and committee member demanded a judicial inquiry into the matter and said the report should be submitted to the standing committee. One month after the incident, BMC has not paid any compensation to the relatives of the deceased. This is a shame, Shinde said. Rakhi Jadhav, senior corporator of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and party leader in the BMC, said an independent panel should have been appointed to conduct the probe first. 

Jadhav said the officials in charge of the investigation were responsible for providing fire NOC to the mall and the hospital. However, senior BMC officials said that this was a preliminary investigation and that the task force had been tasked with finding the detailed cause of the fire. Officials said the investigation was launched to investigate all matters related to the fire as the fire was the immediate cause of the tragedy.