‘Make in India’ fire: BMC blames organisers of ‘gross negligence’

Mumbai : The Mumbai Fire Brigade on Wednesday submitted an investigation report on a fire which occurred during the ‘Make in India’ programme last week to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in which it has accused the organizers of the event of ‘gross negligence’.
The report states that short-circuit was the root cause of the fire. The presence of inflammable adhesives and an LPG cylinder near the stage helped the fire to assume mammoth proportions.The fire department has slammed the organizers for keeping inflammable substances near the stage.Pratap Rahangdale, Chief Fire Officer of Mumbai Fire Brigade, said that report was prepared by analyzing accounts of several witnesses and circumstantial evidence.”We have opened the report for the public. We studied circumstantial evidence and witness accounts. I was also one of the witnesses, as I was the first one to use extinguisher there. By studying all that we arrived at the chain of events leading to fire and prepared a final report,” he told ANI.In its 185-page report uploaded on the website of the BMC, the Fire Brigade, has also said that repeated instructions on fire safety were ignored in the run-up to the event.Fire department has also sent some samples from the site for testing in the Central Forensic Science Laboratory.On February 14, a major fire broke out at the stage of Cultural programme of ‘ Make in India’ here at the Girgaum Chowpatty in Mumbai. The entire stage set up for the programme was destroyed due to the fire. All the celebrities and dignitaries were safely taken out from the venue.