BMC shelved fire risk assessment

Nobody imagined that a small fire at the Kurla signal cabin on Tuesday night would have wreaked such havoc on the city.
The incident not only exposed Mumbai’s preparedness to handle crisis situation, but also the apathetic approach of officials when looking into such incidents.
Incidentally, over a year ago, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had planned to prepare a fire risk assessment of important properties in the city. However, the plan now seems to have been put in the cold storage for reasons best known to the civic body.
According to the civic officials, had the fire brigade vehicles not faced any hurdles while reaching the Kurla signal cabin on Tuesday night, the fire would have been managed quickly and there would have been minimal damage. However, due to the narrow lanes and congested surroundings, precious time was lost. Officials said that had the fire risk assessment plan been in place, it would have helped the fire officials to take corrective measures immediately.
A senior civic official, on condition of anonymity said, “A year ago, the BMC had decided to assess fire risks of major properties in the city. It involved study of several aspects like the number of people living in the building, whether the structure has enough fire extinguishers, whether it has access to fire vehicles, etc. The study also aimed at evaluating the casualties and economic loss of the property due to fire.”
However, the plan could not materialise, as it was not pursued vigorously. Joint municipal commissioner S.S. Shinde agreed that the fire risk assessment plan had been shelved. However, he refused to comment on the reasons behind this.

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