The Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) in its investigation report said that the fire at the Employees State Insurance Corporation's (ESIC) Kamgar Hospital, which killed 11 people, had an illegal canteen that was a fire hazard and the blaze in Tilak Nagar's Sargam Housing Society that took lives of five people was caused by an electric spark.
The enquiry report on both the fire incidents that took place in December 2018 was submitted to chief fire officer, P Rahangdale on Monday. The hospital comes under the jurisdiction of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). The fire that broke out in the hospital on December 17, 2018, killed 11 people including two children.
MFB's enquiry report noted that the hospital had an illegal canteen with storage of 20 LPG cylinders on the ground floor of its building. The MFB said that it was highly objectionable from fire risk and life safety point of view.
Reportedly, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) could not verify if the hospital's building was fire compliant or not as the hospital comes under the purview of MIDC. The MFB has instructed the MIDC fire brigade to verify if the hospital had the necessary fire compliance and occupation certificate and take action accordingly.MV Ogale, deputy chief fire officer, MIDC, told that they had not received MFB's report yet and would rely on police investigation to conduct inspections. Ogale further said that depending on the gravity of irregularities, their action might range from a penalty to sealing the building.
The MFB has asked Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to take strict action against the builder of Sargam Society for violation of fire safety measures. The spark from the lighting of a Christmas tree led to the fire that took lives of five people. The report said that the building lacked proper fire-fighting system and even had no occupation certificate.
