Dreams Mall fire: Admin, MFB knew of lack of safety

Both had highlighted the lack of fire safety measures in their reports, but nothing came of it

MUMBAI: Nearly a month after nine patients lost their lives in a tragic fire in Sunrise Hospital located on the top floor of Bhandup’s Dreams Mall, it has come to light that both the courtappointed administrator in-charge of the premises and the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) were aware of the absence of fire safety norms back in November 2020, and even exchanged letters but nothing came of that.

Rahul Sahasrabuddhe, who was appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to manage the affairs of the mall after non-payment of taxes by Housing Development Infrastructure Limited (HDIL, which owned Dreams Mall), said he had written to MFB in November stating he was “astonished” that the hospital had been issued a Fire Safety certificate, and that compliance to fire safety norms in the “common area” of the mall would be carried out subject to collection of maintenance charges from shop owners.

MFB’S fire officer RB Ghadge, however, said the department carried out an inspection in the mall and not in the hospital in November, and that non-compliances were highlighted in the fire safety report filed by the department, a copy of which was given to Sahasrabuddhe.

A fire broke out in Dreams Mall, which housed the Coviddesignated hospital in its third floor, in the intervening night of March 25-26. The fire, which raged for over 40 hours, claimed nine lives, including of patients who were on ventilator support.

The police booked several people, including directors of HDIL Rakeshkumar Wadhawan, Nikita Amitsingh Trehan, Sarang Wadhawan, Deepak Shirke and directors of Privilege Health

Care Services Private Limited (which owns Sunrise Hospital) Amitsingh Trehan, Nikita Amitsingh Trehan and Sweetie Jain, among others, for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

In a letter dated November 12, Sahasrabuddhe wrote to MFB: “The undersigned further understands that the NOC/ Fire Safety Certificates have been issued to the premises owned/ managed/ occupied by HDIL, Privilege Health Care Private Limited (Sunrise Hospital), which are inside the premises of the Dreams Mall. The undersigned is astonished with the fact that all these premises which itself forms part of the area of the Dreams Mall have been considered safe, while the common area of the Dreams Mall have been considered unsafe.”

“In spite of all the above, the undersigned understands the gravity of the matter and therefore undersigned undertakes to comply with possible measures ordered by you in terms of having adequate fire safety, subject to the adequate collection of common area maintenance charges and required support from the shop owners of the Dreams Mall,” he wrote. HT has seen a copy of the letter.

“The inspection was carried out in the mall and there was no inspection carried inside the hospital on November 3, 2020 [as stated in the Sahasrabuddhe’s letter], considering it had Covid-19 patients. The fire safety compliances of the hospital were dealt separately by the department. Also, it is not correct to connect the functioning of the hospital and that of the mall considering the permissions and fire compliances for both are different. The fact remains that there were certain non-compliances inside the mall premises, which were highlighted by me in the report after the fire safety inspection,” Ghadge said.

Asked if it was his duty to ensure compliance of MFB guidelines, Sahasrabuddhe said: “I was doing all possible compliance from the revenue that was coming in from the maintenance given by the shop owners.”

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in May 2020 had given a provisional occupation certificate to Sunrise Hospital owing to Covid-19 outbreak. The hospital began operations in October with 100 beds.

Prabhat S Rahangdale, deputy municipal commissioner of BMC’S disaster management cell, which is conducting a probe into the fire, said, “The investigation is ongoing, and currently we are recording statements of all concerned. The investigation will be concluded soon.”

Spokesperson of Sunrise Hospital did not respond to queries.