Mumbai: 295 fire incidents in last 60 days under BMC watch, says Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam

Alleging that the Mumbai civic body has not learnt any lesson from the Kamala Mills fire tragedy, city Congress president Sanjay Nirupam on Monday 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.