Mantralaya blaze: CM men stare fire in the face

At 2.00 pm, almost half an hour before the blaze broke out, 45-year-old assistant public relations officer Hemant Khaire had called up his wife Mohini to inform her that he was safe and was rushing to the sixth floor to check on the deputy chief minister’s cabin, to ensure that everybody had been evacuated safely. Little did he know that he was walking into the jaws of death.

For, by the time Khaire reached the deputy CM’s floor, the fire had turned into a full blaze, engulfing everything in its path. “Inspite of the massive fire, I was relieved that my husband was safe. But only two hours later, I was fervently praying for his life,” said a weeping Mohini.

Khaire, who was rescued after an hour, was first rushed to the St George Hospital, where doctors deemed his condition to be extremely critical. “He was wheeled into JJ Hospital at 5.30pm and shifted to the critical care unit (CCU),” said hospital dean Dr TP Lahane. Doctors attending to Khaire, who was put on ventilator, said he inhaled balls of fire while breathing, which has charred the mucous membrane of his lungs. “Doctors say they are doing everything they can to save him,” said his cousin Ajit Salunkhe, adding that, “He will need to undergo a surgery to mitigate his condition.”

While Khaire is the only critical patient in the fire tragedy, a few senior officials who were saved by a whisker recounted how they stood unfazed in the line of duty when the fire broke.

The 52-year-old chief PRO of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan Satish Lalit was attending a meeting in the deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s chamber on the sixth floor. “On being intimated of the fire, Pawar was rushed downstairs with security first. The moment he escaped, the lights went off. In a few seconds, the chamber was filled with black smoke. We shouted desperately for help, but had to break the window glass to climb down the sewer duct onto the fifth-floor parapet,” recounted Lalit, lying in the hospital bed and taking in frequent gulps of air through his oxygen mask. He was rescued by the fire brigade in time.

Kishore Gangurde, 50, home minister RR Patil’s PRO, jumped out of one of the windows on the sixth floor to land on the fifth-floor parapet. Kishore, who was incapacitated from suffocation and injury to the right knee, said, “On the one side was the blaze and on the other a fall from massive height. Lucky to not have slipped from the parapet, I held on tight till the fire brigade rescued me,” said a relieved Kishore, who is recuperating in JJ’s surgery ward.

In between taking in generous bouts of air, CM’s chief PRO Satish Lalit removes his mask to say, “Even as my computer and work desk have languished in the fire, I will join work from tomorrow. Though the Mantralaya offices have been gutted, work will continue from either Sahayadri guest house or Varsha, CM’s residence. The show must go on,” said Lalit.