Sakinaka fire: Civic body wakes up in alarm, may inspect small-scale units

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) may soon crack its whip on small-scale industries, especially those manufacturing farsan and sweets in the city. Sources revealed that civic chief Ajoy Mehta is likely to instruct ward officials on Wednesday about the agenda and the course of action to be followed. And, while this might take a few days to start, Deputy Municipal Commissioner of zone V Bharat Marathe, under whose purview Khairani Road, where the gutted farsan factory was located, falls, has instructed the L ward officer to carry out an inspection of small-scale industries in the area. "I have asked my officer to inspect the area around the farsan factory and report irregularities found or fire safety norms violated," he said.

A knee-jerk reaction
mid-day had reported yesterday about the factory being illegal with no permissions issued by the BMC to the occupier. After the Kinara restaurant fire in 2015, which had killed eight people, the BMC had started an inspection of restaurants and asked them to certify themselves as fire compliant. Because of this action, it has ended up confiscating an average of 5,000 cylinders every year since 2015. Small-scale industries, however, had not been made a part of this action. Sources revealed that Mehta had called a meeting of several ward officials on Wednesday to decide on what further precautions and actions could be taken to avoid such incidents in the future.

Shifting focus
A large number of cylinders and flammable liquids - diesel, kerosene and oil - are usually found in small-scale industries, which can pose a grave risk. BMC won't just inspect their licences and permissions, but also implementation of fire safety norms in the area, said sources. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Nidhi Choudhari said, "We will be deciding on Wednesday whether to carry out an inspection drive for small-scale industries and manufacturing units." Meanwhile, the fire department has collected all the necessary evidence and relevant items from the spot, which will now be given for forensic analysis to facilitate the detailed inquiry ordered by Mehta.

5k Average number of cylinders BMC has seized every year from restaurants since 2015

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