Half of heritage building opposite CSMT crashes in blaze, sabotage suspected

MUMBAI: In the second major fire in south Mumbai’s heritage precinct this month, nearly half of the six-storey Kothari Mansion, opposite CSMT premises, crashed early Saturday morning. But for two firemen, no one else was injured as the British-era building, once home to Light of Asia restaurant, was vacated two years ago after being declared very dangerous.
The fire-fighting team had a narrow escape as a few minutes after 10 firemen and two firefighting vehicles moved to a safe distance, a part of the six-storey building collapsed.Two firemen, who got stuck on the fire ladder, sustained minor injuries. They were admitted to a hospital and are out of danger. An adjoining building, Patel Mansion, was also damaged along with two fire trucks.
“There was no indication that the building was going to collapse,” said chief fire officer PS Rahangdale, who was standing nearby, “but just to be safe, we asked our men to shift their location. Within a few minutes, the portion of the building where they were standing collapsed. We panicked and started to count each of our men. Fortunately, all of them were safe.”
The BMC filed a police complaint against two tenants of the building for negligence, stating that Nagraj Jain and Sayali Sawant had taken an NOC from Mhada to repair the building after it was declared dangerous a few years ago but had failed to do so. Assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Dighavkar requested the police to register FIRs against Jain and Sawant for endangering the lives of people in adjoining buildings as well.
The BMC will remove the remaining portion of the building after discussing the details with Mhada. For, it stands on a corner of two busy roads that are taken by tens and thousands of people on their way from CSMT to their work in south Mumbai.
BMC officials also suspect foul play. Sources said the building is caught in litigation. “Not only was no one residing inside, none of the floors has electricity meters or electric supply for some time now,” said Vaqar Naik, one of tenants. “In fact, this is 100% sabotage,” he added.
Kothari Manson, a part of Fort’s heritage precinct, is the second heritage building to catch fire in the last two weeks. Last Friday, Ballard Estate’s Scindia House, a Grade II A heritage structure with exquisite art deco interiors, caught fire and the blaze took almost 12 hours to control. Heritage buildings must follow the same fire safety norms as other buildings but those that haven’t been refurbished in recent years are not equipped with the latest fire safety systems like fire exits, evacuation signage, fire detection and sprinkler systems.
The BMC has listed 619 buildings as dangerous and urgently in need of repairs. But many of the buildings are still occupied. Residents are not vacating the premises because they fear losing their homes to the landlord. Just before the monsoon, the BMC issued notices to residents of these buildings asking them to vacate.
(With inputs from Hemali Chhapia)