City fire chief puts govt in line of fire as toll rises to 5

'Mantralaya Had No Safety System, No Coordination'

Mumbai: Five people in all died in Thursday's devastating blaze that has brought work at Mantralaya, the state's administrative headquarters, to a standstill. While chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said work on reconstructing thousands of lost documents would be a priority, questions were raised about the abysmal firefighting measures in the state's most important building. 
    On Friday morning, the authorities discovered three charred bodies in the building whose top four floors have been almost entirely gutted. 
    Mumbai's chief fire officer Suhas Joshi pointed out the virtual absence of fire safety equipment in the building. He said Mantralaya's fire personnel failed to coordinate with his department. "We were unable to locate the water points inside the building, leading to a delay in tackling the fire." Fire officials said the building had no fire detection or sprinkler systems. 
    The three new victims were identified as Mira Road resident Mohan More, 45, a peon in the CM's office who, witnesses said, had actually escaped but went back to save a friend, Virar resident Tukaram More, 56, a retired peon who had gone to Mantralaya to complete pension fund formalities, and Shivaji Korde, 43, an Akola NCP office-bearer. Recreating documents is state's top priority: CM 
    Like those found dead on Thursday—Mahesh Gughule, 44, and Umesh Potekar, 39—Korde had gone to Mantralaya to visit deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. The bodies were found on the 6th floor, where the offices of the CM and deputy CM are located. 
    The blaze, which started around 2.35pm on Thursday, was contained to small areas by 9pm that night. However, flames continued to flare up till early morning Friday. At 3pm, the fire brigade declared the situation "under control". 
    Chavan announced a comprehensive audit of all public buildings in the state and new fire-safety guidelines. The CM said if Mantralaya is structurally unstable, it could be redeveloped by the government and not a private developer. 
    The reconstruction of documents and files would be a top priority, said CM Prithviraj Chavan on Friday. The blaze is said to have destroyed thousands of records belonging to various departments, but many urban development, home, general administration, environment and housing records have been reportedly scanned and are safe. The blaze destroyed 2,000 of 3,500 computers, but experts said 90% of the harddisk data could be recovered. 
    The crime branch, which has formed four teams to probe the blaze, will consider the sabotage angle. Preliminary reports said an overloaded AC system may have led to a short circuit in or near chamber 411 on the fourth floor, sparking the inferno that destroyed floors four through seven. The CM cautioned against rumours of sabotage. "Wait till the inquiry is complete," he said. 
    Forensic experts visited the building to collect evidence. The damage will be videographed and the BMC and MMRDA were asked to appoint architects and consultants to advise the government on how to protect the structure during the monsoon. Structural auditors from government and private agencies are appointed. 
    Several alternate offices have been identified for the affected departments. The law and judiciary department has been directed to approach the Bombay High Court so that a stay on occupying a disputed building in GT Hospital campus is lifted. Other sites include Old Customs House, PWD Bldg (Fort), Worli Dairy, Aarey Milk Colony and New Administrative Bldg (Mantralaya). 
    The additional chief secretary (general administration department) will ascertain the financial loss. 
    The CM said the state directorate of archives will help restore and recreate damaged and destroyed documents. "All computer servers are safe. We had already scanned 3.18 crore pages in 2.27 lakh files,'' Chavan said. He added that in his own office he followed the system followed in the PM's office of scanning the summary of every file cleared. 
    The opposition demanded a special assembly session to discuss fire safety. Opposition leader in the council Vinod Tawde demanded that the state administration resume functioning in 48 hours. Opposition members want an independent probe into fire safety lapses.

THE DAY AFTER 5 DEAD 16 INJURED 8 DISCHARGED 8HOSPITALIZED (1 SERIOUS) 
THE LIST OF DEAD SHIVAJIRAO KORDE | 43 | BUSINESSMAN AND VP OF NCP AKOLA UNIT 
MAHESH GUGHULE | 44 | VP OF BARAMATI MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION UMESH POTEKAR | 39 | EX-PRESIDENT OF BARAMATI CO-OPERATIVE BANK MOHAN MORE | 45 |GATEKEEPER IN CM'S OFFICE, FROM MIRA ROAD TUKARAM MORE | 56 | EX-GATEKEEPER IN CM'S OFFICE, FROM VIRAR 
FLAMES DOUSED, SABOTAGE THEORY RAGES 
A short-circuit in overloaded AC system may have started fire on 4th floor. Crime branch will probe sabotage angle Lack of communication between stateappointed fire officials and fire brigade, says chief fire officer of Mumbai Situation under control by 3pm Friday Ground, 1st-3rd floors partially usable after repairs; floors 4-7th can be repaired/rebuilt 
FOR THE RECORD 
    Around 40% of Mantralaya's files/documents (consisting of 8 crore pages) have been scanned and stored in Navi Mumbai and Sion. These include documents of home, urban development, general admn, environment, housing. Rest mainly belong to PWD, energy, transport, industries, law & judiciary & health 
    Adarsh, Lavasa cases unaffected as docus already with court or investigating agencies 
    Citizens'appeals, departmental appeals and revision applications may have to be re-filed OFFICE SHIFTS 
    Affected offices could operate from New Administrative Bldg (potential fire-trap across Mantralaya); building on GT Hospital campus; Old Customs House; PWD Bldg (Fort); Worli Dairy; Nariman Pt barracks; Aarey Milk Colony; Rajan House (Prabhadevi); P L Deshpande Academy (Prabhadevi); CR2 Mall and Nirmal Bhavan (Nariman Pt)