Citys skyscrapers not safe from fire: RTI query

Mumbai: Mumbai skyscrapers are not fire-proof, a Right to Information (RTI) query by activist Shakeel Ahmed Shaikh has revealed. In the past 10 years, around 1,568 skyscrapers witnessed fire incidents. During the same period, city buildings saw as many as 48,434 fire incidents.

While the major reason for fire incidents has been short-circuits, leakages from gas cylinders, too, have led to as many as 1,116 fire incidents in Mumbai. “The BMC still does not have data on how many buildings in Mum-bai are fire safety-compliant and how many lack the same. This raises eyebrows over audits carried out by the concerned authorities. Not only slums and residential buildings but even tall skyscrapers are facing fire incidents here,” said Mr Shaikh.

The query revealed that in zone 3 (Khar, Bandra and Santacruz), there were 496 fire incidents in high-rises. At 1,835, zone 4 recorded the highest number of fire incidents in residential buildings in areas like Goregaon, Malad and Borivali. Similarly, around 987 fire incidents were reported in commercial buildings in zone 1 (Fort, Colaba, Girgaum and Byculla).

Meanwhile BMC officials have put the onus of fire safety-compliance on housing societies and buildings. “We conduct an audit twice every year and notify societies and commercial complexes about their shortcomings in terms of fire safety. The fire safety-compliance section 3 also states the same. However, we focus on internal fire-fighting systems, where, societies found non-compliant are prosecuted,” said P.S. Rahangdale, chief fire officer, BMC.

Between 2008 and 2018, 8,737 residential buildings recorded fire incidents followed by 3,833 commercial buildings and 3,151 slums. These incidents led to the death of 609 people.