‘Half-hearted help from government’

The 32 families that have been rendered homeless after their building was reduced to rubble following a major fire on Thursday are fighting a lonely battle, with the authorities apparently making a mere halfhearted effort to help them in their hours of misery.
“We are each other’s only support system. I have never seen such selfless commitment from neighbours as I have witnessed in the past 48 hours.Sadly, the response from the government has been equally muted,” said Micky Panchwani, a resident of Tardeo’s Ganpat Wete Sadan where the fire broke out. A part of the building collapsed, leaving more than 90 without a roof over their head.
The victims say the authorities—be it the civic body, Mhada or even the staff of Nair Hospital where most of the burn victims were taken initially—have done little to alleviate their pain. “After two days of putting us up in a transit camp, Mhada has offered us accommodation in Sion. It is not feasible for us to shift to central Mumbai. We asked them for an alternative closer to Tardeo, but to no avail. Some officers even mocked us, asking if we would want five-star bungalows.” said Charulata Shirodkar, a senior citizen.
Echoing him, Panchwani said it was impossible to even consider moving to Sion, given that children have exams in March. “Our children go to schools here and the final exams are in March. They have lost all their books and, if they are shifted to a place far from school, it will literally kill their chance of clearing the exams,” he said. Talks are now on with builders for a possible accommodation in the area.
The residents were also upset over not being helped in retrieving their belongings from the building. “They are not letting us in. We have documents, gold and other valuables there. But neither are we allowed to go in nor are the Mhada or BMC officials taking our belongings out,” said retired serviceman Mahadev Sawant.
Another of the residents’ grievances is that those admitted to Nair Hospital are not being cared for properly. “They have been left without proper treatment. Nair has no proper burns facilities and the staff is not maintaining the required level of hygiene. We, with the help of NGOs, are trying to raise money to shift the burn victims to a private hospital ,” said Panjwani. Six persons are still in the hospital, with an 11-month-old child, Tanay Phansekar, being admitted to the paediatric department. “Two women, Jasanta Yadav and Deepika Phansekar, are in the trauma-care unit. The rest have been shifted to normal wards. All are showing signs of improvement ,” said Dr M K Sanjana, acting dean of Nair Hospital.
Asked if the residents planned to meet any senior official to demand compensation, pat comes the reply: “Not at all. The mayor and BMC chief came here for a few minutes that day but no one has bothered to check on us after that. We are relying on each other," said Shirodkar.
Fire brigade reached late: BMC Committee
Two days after the blaze at Tardeo, BMC’s standing committee members alleged that the fire brigade reached the spot halfan-hour after it got a call. “The fire brigade could not reach on time. The fire took place early in the morning , when there is hardly any traffic," Congress corporator and leader of opposition Dnyanraj Nikam said. “Why did the fire brigade arrive so late?”
The civic administration, however , said the fire brigade reached within eight minutes of the first call being made. “The congested lanes and traffic led to the delay,” said Mohan Adtani, additional municipal commissioner.