Faulty electric wiring caused Bandra slum fire: Fire brigade
MUMBAI: The fire in Bandra’s Nargis Dutt Nagar slum on October 30, which burnt down around 70 shanties, was caused due to faulty electric wiring, revealed the Mumbai Fire Brigade’s (MBF) investigation into the incident.
Fire brigade officials submitted their final report to the chief fire officer, P S Rahangdale, after investigating the incident. Confirming the findings of the report, Rahangdale said, “My team’s investigation has concluded that the fire occurred as a result of faulty electric system.”
The report also concluded that the fire spread rapidly due to multiple cylinder blasts from the LPG cylinders used in households in the slum. The fire brigade could not point out how many cylinder blasts occurred during four hours of firefighting.
However, local residents of the slum and political leaders continue to suspect the fire was a result of sabotage. With a rehabilitation scheme planned for the area since the past 20 years, residents have alleged the fire was caused by anti-social elements.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashish Shelar, who is the Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the area, demanded a detailed police probe into the incident. “It is appalling that four or five fires have occurred in this area in the past five years. The rehabilitation project appeared to be gaining momentum, so someone could have deliberately set fire to the houses,” he said.
Mohammad Ali Memon, a resident of the slum whose house burnt down in the fire, said, “All fires that have occurred in the past have coincided with elections. We suspect someone wants to evict us deliberately.”
The 50-odd families displaced in the fire have begun to reconstruct brick and concrete homes in the same place where their burnt down houses were located.
An official from the Bandra police station, who investigated the fire on the day it occurred, said, “The fire brigade report has not yet been submitted to the police. After we get a copy of the report, we can conduct an investigation if the report suggests so.”