Seven people, including two minors, were killed and 51 were injured in a fire that broke out in a seven-storey residential Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) building in Mumbai’s Goregaon West early on Friday. The incident has prompted the chief minister to order a fire audit of all SRA buildings. The BMC commissioner has set up a committee to inquire into the fire incident. Experts have highlighted the lack of fire safety in most slum rehab buildings in Mumbai and have called for the establishment of a dedicated authority within the BMC to conduct audits and ensure compliance with fire safety measures.
The fire was reported at 3.05 am at Jay Bhavani building, a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) building located near Azad Maidan in Goregaon West. The flames were extinguished more than three hours after the fire broke out.
On Saturday, the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) released a statement stating that the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. According to BMC, on the ground floor, the fire was confined to the shops, scrap material, rags and vehicles in the stilt area.
Majority of the residents belonged to the Waghri community, many of whose members traditionally make a living exchanging old clothes for steel utensils. The clothes were stored in the stilt parking area, thus contributing to rapid spread of the fire.
The Jay Bhavani building, constructed in 2008 by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), did not have functional fire-fighting systems or a lift. The incident prompted chief minister Eknath Shinde to order a fire audit of all SRA buildings, as many of them were built before 2006, and not covered by the Maharashtra Fire Services Act, 2006, which mandates high rises to have firefighting systems.
The BMC commissioner has set up a committee to inquire into the fatal fire. The committee, which will be headed by additional municipal commissioner Sudhakar Shinde and includes officials of BMC SRA, MHADA and the Mumbai Fire Brigade, will look into the cause of the fire and fix responsibility for the incident.
"The committee needs to look into various aspects including measures to be taken in existing SRA buildings and those under-construction to avoid fire incidents," said a BMC official.
Experts have highlighted the lack of fire safety in most slum rehab buildings in Mumbai. They emphasized the need to address issues such as non-functional firefighting systems, poor ventilation, and non-existent escape routes. Former fire officers noted that many SRA lack basic ventilation, which can trap residents during emergencies.
They also expressed concerns about the compliance of housing societies with the deficiencies pointed out in fire audits. Experts have called for the establishment of a dedicated authority within the BMC to conduct audits and ensure compliance with fire safety measures. A comprehensive fire audit is meaningless if compliance is not enforced.
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