The BMC has shut down eight restaurants in Bandra’s upscale ONCG Colony Lane for carrying out illegal constructions and fire-safety violations, reported Mumbai Mirror. The action comes in the wake of the Kamala Mills Fire.
The restaurants whose licenses have been suspended include: Door No 1, Broaster Chicken, Doolally Taproom, Quench, Candies, Scribble Stories, Café Coffee Day and Ms LJ Restaurant.
Other restaurants on the stretch have been served notices and given a month’s time to comply.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner, H-west ward, Sharad Ughade said the licenses were cancelled after joints failed to take action after getting notices: “Their operations will remain suspended till they fully comply with fire-safety norms and get rid of all illegal constructions.”
The report states that the restaurants had converted garaged into areas with taking the necessary permission.
On 28 December 2017, a massive fire in a pub at Kamala Mills had killed over 14 people. The incident shook the civic bodies in Maharashtra to ensure fire safety in pubs and restaurants.
Subsequently, the eateries and hookah parlours in Thane were given a 15 day grace period to abide by the fire safety norm. However, even after an extended deadline of over two months, only 80, out of the 426 eateries and pubs in Thane, have obtained the NOC from the fire department.
Meanwhile, Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam claimed the Mumbai civic body hadn’t learnt its lesson.
He said a total of 295 incidents of fire were reported in the last 60 days.
"As per the latest data by the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), there have been 295 incidents of fire in the last 60 days. This makes it an average of nearly five fire incidents per day," he said.
Nirupam said this "alarming data" shows that the Fire department under the Shiv Sena-ruled BMC has become "defunct".
They have not learnt any lessons after the Kamala Mills fire tragedy in which 14 people dining at an upscale resto bar lost life in December last year.
He said Mumbaikars are living on a "razor's edge because the department is not interested in securing the lives of the citizens".
"If timely intervention was made, if safety checks were done and if the BMC was not as corrupt as it is, then these fire incidents would not have taken place with such shocking regularity," said the Congress leader.
He said BMC Commissioner Ajoy Mehta should be "pulled up for his nexus with businessmen and corrupt officials".
Nirupam reiterated his demand for a CBI probe into the Kamala Mills incident.
"However, the truth will never come out since the probe is handled by the BMC Commissioner," he said.
With inputs from PTI
