No FIR yet over FIRE

In the National park blaze, police only made a ‘diary entry’

Since December 29 last year, when two eateries in Kamala Mills caught fire, Mumbai has witnessed a string of fire incidents, the Sanjay Gandhi National park episode being the latest.

An inquiry was promptly instituted into most fire incidents -- Kamala Mills, Beau Monde and Crystal Tower -but this time around, both the government and the police do not find anything fishy in the national park fire. Even though, activists suspect that the fire in the national park was a deliberate act.

Monday’s incident has exposed the vulnerability of the city to man-made hazards and the police only have a ‘diary entry’ to show for what transpired on the fateful evening.

Dindoshi police have not yet registered a case against anyone in the Goregaon fire and are awaiting the incident report to initiate action. Only if something suspicious is detected, a case will be registered, pointed out Rajaram Vhanmane, senior police inspector of Dindoshi police station,

The fire broke out at 6.30 pm on the premises of the Infinity IT park of K Raheja Constructions and since it is a forest area, it was extremely difficult for fire tenders to access the spot. The fire was soon fanning out towards the New MHADA colony due to uphill wind conditions. Fire officials said an investigation is underway and it will take three more days for them to come to any conclusion. More so, since the fire had spread in a radius of around 4-5 kilometres. A fire official said, “The fire was on a hill spread across a vast territory, and many small trees have got burnt. It will take some time to assess the damage.”