Ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan stuck in lift for 30 minutes

For a claustrophobic half hour, former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday got stuck in the lift of a Churchgate building.

The incident occurred at around 6:45 pm at Ravindra Mansion, located along Dinshaw Vacha Road where Chavan has his office.

According to the Congress leader, he got stuck in the lift while heading for his office on the first floor.
"Normally, I take the staircase to my office. But on Saturday evening I took the lift and it got stuck. Luckily, it got stuck on the ground floor," Chavan said.

Chavan was accompanied by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Sanjay Dutt at the time of the incident. "When we pressed the button of the lift, it did not go up. When we tried to open the door, it didn't. So, we knocked the door to inform the security guards outside. The guards and lift-man too tried opening the door, but failed. Somehow, they managed to put a rod between the doors after a struggle of 20-odd minutes and we could breathe easy. Meanwhile, they had called up the fire brigade and we were rescued," Dutt said.

A fire official told dna that the rescue operation was easy because the lift was stuck on the ground floor. "We immediately cut the power supply and broke the doors using cutters," he said.

"Everything was okay with the lift. The fan was working. We did not suffocate as such. It was just a technical snag. So, there is no need to take action against anyone," said Chavan.