Mumbai: Friday fire leads to inspection on Kurla road

Arti Lalji Jaiswal, 25, and Piyush Pithadia, 42, were found in one of the units and taken to Rajawadi Hospital where they were declared dead

After two deaths in the fire incident on Friday evening that spread owing to small scale chemical factories, the BMC has now decided to conduct an inspection drive to check if the structures on Khairani road in Kurla are legal. While civic officials have said that there are no specific provisions regarding issuing licenses to small scale industries that store or deal with chemicals in the middle of the city, they said that these units have existed for over 25 years and despite action to remove them, they set up business here again.

Two people were reported dead due to the fire that broke out at Khairani Road on Friday. While what started the fire is still under investigation, officials say it was initially confined only to the electrical fittings and later spread to furniture, raw materials, including chemicals stored in the galas. Assistant municipal commissioner of L ward, Manish Valanju, said, "The inspection drive started on Saturday. We will be checking all of Khairani Road and looking at their licences. In case of absence of licences, immediate action by police under relevant IPC sections will be taken."

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