Says
an official on mantralaya fire that gutted several floors of this iconic
Maharashtra government headquarter over a year ago to MediaEye
Mantralaya
fire that gutted the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh floors of the iconic head
quarter of Maharashtra government have come as a shocker as it was found to be
inadequately equipped for emergency firefighting…
‘I
was in my office with loads of file to dispose. At around 2.20-2.30 people
screamed …’fire erupts on fourth floor…They shouted, ‘run
and reach to the ground floor to save your skin’… I thought it may be a small
blaze that can be doused soon…but unfortunately it turned out be a
major inferno…reducing everything on its way to cinders….everything reduced
into charred n smoky remains post tragedy … I was part of the
supervising team headed by the CM himself.
The
fire tenders reached considerably late (though its office remains under one km
radius of the iconic Mantralaya, at Nariman Point)…They cited traffic snarl as
the reason for the delay…Blame game, post blaze, started being tossed between
concerned government departments…this is of no use as the tragedy has already
happened and five precious lives lost… The disaster management cell of the
state woke up albeit late…in haste took several measures to douse fire… 40%
building had suffered ghastly burns…many important files were reduced into
cinders…pushed the state many years back…
Mystery
clouds every investigative process post inferno. The reports blink at the
truth. Why? On June 21, the fire gutted the state government headquarters at
Mantralaya. The administration’s reaction was predictable – sirens and bells of
fire-fighters pierced through the sleepy afternoon to douse the raging inferno,
albeit much after the lashing demon has gutted everything in their reach and
jumped over three floors to devour CM’s office and the communication center at
6th and 7th floors respectively.
The
civic agency wakes up after tragedy stuck, as usual. We are inured to this, no
matter how much destruction it causes. The whopping figure – hundreds of crores
have been reduced into ashes as almost one-fourth of the building has been
completely burnt. This seldom move us as we lap up news with crispy snacks and
steaming tea, glancing intermittently at our watches to ensure that 8. 30-local
shouldn’t elude us; they shrug such news with typical urban callousness: bade
badeshahronmeinchotee-choteebateinhoteerahteehain –who cares!
Post
fire, the opposition came out with sabotage angle which lacks substance…again
at their best to play political one-upmanship…
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