Bhandup mall fire: Demand for action against Praveen Pardeshi, Iqbal Singh Chahal

Firefighters try to douse the fire at Dreams Mall on March 26. File pic

Corporators and BMC's standing committee members on Wednesday demanded a judicial probe into last week's fire tragedy at Dreams Mall in Bhandup West, and also action against the last and the current civic chiefs. The fire broke out on March 25 night.

At the standing committee meeting, members discussed several questions that arose following the incident, like why the temporary hospital was set up in a mall and why no action was taken despite apprehensions raised by officials, and also the allegations of civic officials' involvement in a lot of illegalities.

Samajwadi Party corporator Rais Shaikh has demanded action against former municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi for issuing provisional Occupation Certificate (OC) to Sunrise Hospital. Corporators said Pardeshi issued the OC citing ‘COVID-19 exceptional circumstances' even though he knew the mall had various irregularities and violations. They also want action against current BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal for ignoring civic officials' adverse report asking to review the OC.

Shaikh said he will write to the chief minister every day till a detailed enquiry is conducted against the two by the Urban Development Department. An enquiry committee under a retired high court judge should be appointed to probe the incident, said opposition leader Ravi Raja.

Raut pointed out that P S Rahangdale, who was the head of Mumbai Fire Brigade when the OC and the fire NOC was given to Sunrise Hospital, was made in-charge of the enquiry into the incident by the civic administration. Standing committee Chairman Yashwant Jadhav said, "There should be strict action against those responsible and the administration should give a detailed reply to all the questions raised at the meeting."

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, said, "We are probing the fire incident and the issues pointed out by the members will also be investigated." While Chahal refused to comment, Pardeshi rubbished the allegations and said the operations at the hospital did not start during his tenure. Pardeshi said, "I had given a provisional OC, which could be revoked if certain conditions were not followed. The OC was given on May 6, while I was transferred on May 8 and the hospital didn't begin operations before September... Also, had I not taken the risk and started non-operating hospitals, we would have faced dearth of beds..."