20211026 Mumbai: ‘Illegal alterations found in highrise flat gutted in fire’
India Oct 26 2021 “Building” “Office bldg.”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Mumbai: ‘Illegal alterations found in highrise flat gutted in fire’
Updated: 2021-10-26
Mumbai: Fire brigade investigation into last week’s blaze at One Avighna Park at Curry Road, which left one dead, has reportedly found illegal additions and alterations done in the gutted 19th floor flat in B Wing.
A senior fire official who is part of the investigating team said they found the servant quarters had been turned into the kitchen while the kitchen space had been extended into the dining room.
“The sprinkler system, when moved from the existing kitchen space to the servant quarters, is likely to have not been fixed appropriately, due to which it may have not been triggered despite the fact that the heat in the room reached a certain degree during the blaze,” said an official, adding extensive wood-panelling work on the walls aggravated the blaze.
Later on Monday, in a statement, Nishant Agarwal, managing director, Avighna Group, said their facility team had received several emails from the owner of the flat where the fire had erupted seeking approval for various changes, which were not sanctioned.
“The flat owner had specifically asked us for approval to relocate the sprinklers. This being a gross violation, we have not permitted the same. However, during site review on 24 October, prima facie it appears to us that the flat owner has gone ahead and done these changes regardless.
It is evident that the location of the sprinklers has been changed. It seems that he has used a third-party contractor to do this work without our knowledge.
In order to carry out this work, he seems to have shut the water supply to the sprinklers on his own, and could possibly be the reason why the automatic response sprinklers did not activate when the fire broke out, as claimed by the owner,” said the statement.
When contacted, Rohit Rathod, owner of the flat where the fire erupted, said he would get his legal team to reach out. A comment was still awaited till late on Monday.
The BMC in a meeting on Monday instructed fire brigade teams to do random inspections of highrises to check if their basic fire-fighting systems are operational. See also P 6
Web Source: The Times of India