Mumbai : After the Kalbadevi inferno in May, that claimed the lives of Mumbai’s four top-notch fire officers, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has formed teams of officers from the fire brigade, and the municipal corporation’s maintenance, water and electrical department to check every building in the Kalbadevi vicinity for irregularities in construction and illegal activities that can possibly ignite or fuel a fire.
This Special Team was assigned with the task of inspecting more than 5,000 buildings in the area and take action against those flouting fire safety norms.
Pallavi Darade, Additional Municipal commissioner said “We have inspected close to 600 buildings so far, out of more than 5,000 buildings we identified in the area. It is a tedious process as we have to check every corner of the buildings we are inspecting and those inspected so far, and we have found irregularities in most of them. After we have completed inspecting all the buildings we will take collective action against the defaulters”.
Darade said that many residential buildings were converted into commercial complexes and many residents were running full-fledged businesses and storing a lot of hazardous cooking material on a large scale in the house. Darade also said they have come across irregularities in construction, in theft of electricity, where new connections have been obtained with precarious wiring.
A senior official from the BMC said, “The people agitate when we suggest changes or fine them for irregularities but they do not realise it is for their own safety”.
