A massive fire broke out at the first floor of the Dream Mall in Mumbai city just before Midnight causing 10 people to lose their lives; many injured and huge loss of property. A report by SURFACES REPORTER (SR)
Dreams Mall, once termed as one of the Asia’s biggest malls in Bhandup West, is now standing ablaze, thanks to the poor fire safety standards followed while creating the structure. In the midnight of March 25th, 2020 a massive fire broke out on the first floor of the mall which is also housing Sunrise Hospital, a COVID speciality facility on the top floor of the building. The death toll currently stands at 10 among which 3 are yet to be identified.
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A statement released by Sunrise hospital said that there were no casualties due to the fire in the hospital and all the occupants were shifted safely. “The smoke reached the hospital located at the top floor. All fire alarms beeped and hence all patients were safely evacuated due to the smoke to the fire refuge area. There was no casualty due to fire,” the statement said. The Police claimed that almost 70 patients were evacuated from the hospital.
When SR reached Prabhat Rahangdale, Director- Maharashtra Fire Service, for a comment, he said, “Dreams mall Sunrise Hospital L 4 fire massage is almost under control. Officially CFO will transmit further massage. Further details of rescued patient injuries can be obtained from Disaster Management Control Room.”
Read more: SR 10 on 10: Pankaj Dharkar, Former International President, Fire & Security Association of India (FSAI)
Why there was a hospital inside a mall?
While many were shocked at the thought of a hospital operating inside a mall, it claims that it is functioning with all due compliances like fire licence, nursing and home licence.
However, further probe revealed that in November, the mall was issued a notice by Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for allegedly flouting the fire safety norms. In fact, the Mayor of Mumbai, Kishori Pednekar who also visited the spot expressed her concern over the hospital inside the mall adding that stricter actions will be taken if any irregularities would be found in this regard.
Read more: An Inspection Cell Should be There to Check the Active and Passive Fire Preventive Measure Of A Building- P S Rahangdale
Sunrise Hospital, Bhandup is a part of the hospital chain operated by the namesake group that also owns several other hospitals in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. It is owned by distinguished doctors Hafeez Rehman and Nikita Trehan who could be in serious trouble if the hospital would be found flouting the safety norms.
SR View
It seems that the history is repeating itself. Every year, there are hundreds of accidents caused by not following the fire safety standards properly. In this case, if the building had already been notified for the poor fire safety standards then how a hospital was allowed to operat\e inside it? There is no obligations for fire safety audits currently in our country. The mall itself, it seems, was not working well as despite housing a hundred of shops, most of them remained vacant. A quick serach on google revealed that the visitors' experience was also not good with people terming it as the 'Worst Mall.' It remains to be seen what the probe would reveal, however, the question remains unanswered; will we never learn from our mistakes?
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