Versova cylinder blast must result in severe action

Firefighters contain the blaze at the godown in Versova on Wednesday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

are being treated at Cooper Hospital, said this paper's front-page news report. The report cited how firefighters had doused the blaze and recovered hundreds of damaged cylinders. The BMC said it will raze the building that has been badly damaged.

The scale of the operation in the building is shocking and the authorities are yet to ascertain how many more cylinders were in the premises or in neighboring structures. While those in charge say they are investigating this godown and even the status of the building, it is sheer good fortune that there was no slum cluster next to the structure. Otherwise, the scale of the disaster could have been mammoth and the tragedy's severity may have increased.

Though we say it is fortunate that the incident has been implicated, one has to remember that four people suffered injuries. This, too, should count. Our track record about incidents and disasters has resulted in us being inured to such crises.

We tend to be dismissive, saying to ourselves 'only' four persons were injured or even, 'only' one person died. We need to put ourselves in the place of the families which suffer and empathize with them. Let us treat every single life as immensely precious, even a life lost or a person grievously injured because of a certain mishap, needs to be looked at as an emergency. There has to be outrage and an urgency to rectify a dangerous situation.

It is time to stamp on the gas pedal and look into what exactly transpired and the goings-on in this building housing a godown. Action must be multi-pronged and an investigation must be conducted to nab the culprits and prevent a repeat.