Committee Submits Report on Oct 6 Goregaon SRA Building Fire, Suggests 15 Measures to Prevent Such Incidents

The eight-member committee appointed to probe the October 6 fire in a Slum Rehabilitation Authority building in Goregaon submitted its report to Mumbai civic chief IS Chahal on Monday, an official said.

Seven persons were killed and 51 sustained injuries in the fire in Jay Bhavani SRA Cooperative Housing Society in Unnat Nagar in the north-western suburb.

The report, in which the committee has proposed 15 measures to prevent such incidents, has been accepted by Chahal, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation release informed.

The committee has suggested providing ‘spiral ladders’ made of durable wrought iron instead of iron for safe evacuation of residents in case of fire in SRA buildings, and these should be made mandatory by the Authority before giving permission to such structures, the release said.

“The committee has suggested conducting a regular fire audit of 227 buildings in June every year. While issuing the occupancy certificate to newly constructed SRA buildings, the chief fire officer should first issue a completion certificate for fire safety equipment and measures,” it added.

“The committee also suggested to increase the current three years of liability period to 10 years in the case of SRA buildings. It has suggested that taking the density of flats on all floors in SRA buildings, the developer should provide common open space and more than one staircase on each floor in the building,” the release said.  As per the release, the committee also suggested adequate allocation of two-wheeler and four-wheeler parking spaces for residents in SRA buildings and sale component buildings.

It has suggested to replace the open grill doors of lifts in SRA buildings with closed steel doors so that there is no scope for fire and smoke to spread in the building premises, according to the release.

On the directive of Chief Minister Eknath Sinde, civic commissioner Chahal had formed the eight-member committee headed by additional municipal commissioner Dr Sudhakar Shinde. It comprised officials from the civic department, police, SRA, fire brigade and MHADA.