The state government has issued a fresh notification which states that shops need not register with the civic body if the number of workers in a shop is less than 10.
The fire at Saki Naka's illegal shop, manufacturing farsan, killed 12 innocent lives and chances are that a similar incident may be repeated in other pockets of the city as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon do away with the practice of verification of shops by visiting the site. The state government has issued a fresh notification which states that shops need not register with the civic body if the number of workers in a shop is less than 10.
According to the Shops and Establishments department of the BMC, there are 8.5 lakh shops registered in the city. Around 8 lakh out of 8.5 lakh have less than 10 employees. The state government has taken this step as part of the ease of doing business in the city.
In the Saki Naka incident, the shop owners had not taken several required permissions to run the shop and had employed more than the permissible number of employees. "Now, we cannot visit a shop to even check whether they have taken permission from the health department or fire department even they are using LPG cylinder or selling food items," said an official from the Shop and Establishment department of BMC.
Godfrey Pimenta, Trustee of Watchdog Foundation said that despite the state government notification, shops with hazardous in nature like using LPG cylinder have to procure trade license and permission from the Health and Fire department of the BMC. "The BMC can still keep a watch on shops which are running illegally in the city," said Pimenta.
"The BMC has Mukadams (Technical Assistant) who keep a watch on the illegal constructions in the city. They report to a junior engineer about any illegal activity in the ward," said Pimenta.
He added that even in the case of the Saki Naka fire, the technical assistant should have reported the matter to the higher authorities.
In October this year, the BMC had decided to recruit 252 more Mukadams. The decision has been taken following the recommendation from a three-member committee formed to probe the causes of the ground-plus-four-storey Sai Siddhi building collapse, which occured on July 25, 2017, killing 17 people including two infants.
In the inquiry report of Sai Siddhi building collapse in Ghatkopar submitted by the committee, led by the BMC additional municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal, the panel has suggested that the presence of Mukadams could have prevented the Ghatkopar incident as they are meant to keep a watch on illegal constructions, or illegal alterations in buildings in the city. However, the wards are yet to receive the additional mukadams.
The civic body has planned to shift inspectors of Shop and Establishment department to look into the issue of hawkers in the city. "As their work will be very less, they will be shifted to other departments," said a senior civic official.
HIGH RISK
Shops with less than 10 employees need not register with the BMC
8.5 lakh registered shops
Around 8 lakh shops have less than 10 employees
MUKADAMS IN BMC
80 Present strength
252 Total Requirement
227 Building and Factory department
25 Building Proposal department
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