Mumbai varsity campus a powder keg

The fire extinguishers one sees in the historic Fort campus of Mumbai University are a reassuring sight. But they are merely a reassuring sight.

An RTI query by a students’ organisation has found that all the extinguishers are probably out of order. Some were installed eight or nine years ago and have far exceeded their lifespan. The ones which are more recent — bought about two years ago — were installed without proper testing.

“This shows the degree of negligence by the authorities towards the university building, which is a heritage structure,” said Nilesh Bhosale of the Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS), which had filed the RTI application.

“The university has not mentioned anything about the testing of old fire extinguishers,” Bhosale said. “The authorities should answer whether the old extinguishers are out of order. And if they are, why do we need them?”

Bhosale said even training procedures for operating the extinguishers have not been carried out properly. “The university said information on this may be available with security officials. Does that mean the university authorities have no knowledge of security procedures on the campus?”

The query revealed that the extinguishers have not been tested for two years, because of the unavailability of soda acid. Also, the authorities have no information whether fire-safety guidelines have been issued to the affiliated colleges.

Vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Welukar told DNA, “Proper action would be taken within a few months.”