A level-two fire broke out in the Mandala scrapyard market in Mankhurd during the early hours of Friday.
The blaze erupted at around 4:19 am following which enarky ten fire tenders were pressed into action by the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB).
This is the second fire incident that has been reported at the market since 2020.
According to the fire brigade officials, the fire engulfed the entire Mankhurd area with thick smoke. The officials said more than seven shops were gutted in fire.
Although no casualty was reported from the incident, the MFB official said that the fire has resulted in huge property damage.
"As the blaze erupted during the early hours, there was nobody at the market which helped prevent loss of lives," said the official.
The official maintained that there are many shops in the market who keep electric wires and scrap materials in scattered manner, causing the spread of fire.
The officials also maintained that fire fighting operation became challenging for them as the access road was not in a very good condition due to the ongoing monsoon season.
Assistant municipal commissioner and in-charge of M/East (ME) ward Mahendra Ubale said that the market, which covers the Mankhurd-Govandi area, has been set up on the district collector's land.
The land has been leased out by the collectorate's office for setting up the market. We have written to them and called for a joint meeting next week," Ubale told FPJ on Friday.
"Since the last few years, the issue of encroachments have risen in this area, the fire brigade have also said that many of these shops didn't have Fire NOCs or licenses," he said.
Meanwhile Local Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abu Azmi has said that he has raised this issue of illegal encroachments multiple times with the state government and collector's office.
