Kamala Mills Fire: Did 1 Above have the right fire NOC?

Did 1 Above, the epicentre of Kamala Mills Fire, possess a no-objection certificate from the Mumbai Fire Brigade? The company is unable to prove it did, despite claiming otherwise.

The pub, 1 Above is registered under ‘M/s Sigrid Ospitalita & Entertainment LLP’, in its statement post-incident stated that “all it’s fire safety regulations, licenses, procedures and norms (are) in place,” but when asked to substantiate their claims, they were unable to produce either NOC from the fire department, thereby raising doubts if it really had the mandatory approvals to operate a restobar.

DNA sought copy of clearances, certificates and NOC for 1Above, but in response it shared fire department’s NOC for another outlet at Bandra Kurla Complex registered under a different firm called M/s Flavour Pot Foods LLP.

When specifically asked if it used Bandra Kurla Complex’s Fire NOC to operate its Kamala Mill joint, it did not respond to the question.

M/s Flavour Pot Foods LLP has a different set of owners. As per Flavour Pot Foods' spokesperson, "It has no relation and / or association with 1 Above and / or Sigrid Ospitalita and Entertainment."

It is only on Saturday, 1 Above shared NOC from the fire department for their resto-bar.

For it’s Lower Parel’s establishment — 1 Above or Sigrid Ospitalita & Entertainment LLP, it produced clearances or NOC copies from Food & Drug Administration (FDA), civic body’s Health Department and Establishment Certificates.

Though the spokesperson of 1 Above assured that they would share a copy of the fire NOC, till the time this newspaper went to print, no document had been offered.

When Chief Fire Officer Prabhat Rahangdale was asked about issuance of fire NOC, he replied, “We are investigating three aspects into the incident, first, if NOC was issued or not, second, did the eatery comply to NOC norms and who is responsible to ensure that fire norms are complied with.”

On the same question, Deputy Fire Officer Hemant Parab told, “I haven’t seen fire NOC as of now, so cannot comment if it was issued to 1 Above or not.”

Burning questions

• When asked to substantiate their claims, they were unable to produce either NOC from the fire department, thereby raising doubts if  it really had the mandatory approvals to operate a restobar. It was only a day later it produced copies of fire NOC.
• The pub then shared fire department’s NOC for its another outlet at Bandra Kurla Complex registered under a different firm called M/s Flavour Pot Foods LLP.
• On Friday, for it’s Lower Parel’s establishment, it produced clearances or NOC copies from Food & Drug Administration, but not from other authorities including fire and excise departments but not from the fire department.