Show cause to 'Mumbai Maiden' floatel owner for fireworks show

Swinging into action the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to Mumbai Maiden, a floating hotel near Bandra-Worli Sea-Link (BWSL) over allegedly carrying out fire-works by bursting crackers late on Monday night owing to Christmas Eve. The MMB has said that the owner should have informed the MMB for such a permission in advance for being able to carry out an inspection before bursting crackers.

The MMB has said that it is also going to write to Directorate General (DG) of Shipping to look into the incident considering the certification of the vessel was done by DG Shipping. Vikram Kumar, CEO, MMB told DNA, "We have issued a show cause notice to Mumbai Maiden, and after getting a reply from them we will take further corrective action. Ideally, the floatel owner should have informed us about the fireworks post which we would have inspected for fire safety but here we were not informed."

On Tuesday, a video went viral wherein Mumbai Maiden one out the total two floating hotels near BWSL was seen carrying out fireworks activities on the deck of the floating hotel during Christmas Eve. The MMB on Tuesday evening also inspected the site after the incident was brought into notice. Post this, Bandra police also arrested two associated with the floatel for negligence and endangering the safety of others.

Sanjeev Agarwal who owns Mumbai Maiden had on Tuesday maintained that such firework activities are done worldwide and that the floatel has all fire safety measures that are adopted to tackle any such situation. On Wednesday Agarwal told DNA, "We have got the show-cause notice, and will reply to it. We have three days for responding on the notice."

In order to promote tourism and promote coast-line tourism in the state, the state government has been promoting having floating hotels. Currently, two floatels are near Bandra-Worli Sea-Link and two near Gateway of India started in November 2018. Meanwhile, around five months ago, one floatel had capsised near BWSL due to engine failure and around 15 crew members inside Floatel were rescued.

Nonchalant

• Sanjeev Agarwal who owns Mumbai Maiden maintained that such firework activities are done worldwide and that the floatel has all fire safety measures 
• Earlier, the Bandra police arrested manager and supervisor of the floatel for bursting firecrackers on its deck on Monday night