Fire in Navi Mumbai building: Couple blames power company for negligence in transformer maintenance

George Mendonca

Navi Mumbai: Following the incident of six persons including a 10-year-old girl sustaining minor burn injuries in the blaze at Kuber CHS in sector 21, Ghansoli on Saturday night, an injured tenant husband-wife duo Avinash Yashwantrao (39) and Aavishka (38) who are hospitalized in Airoli have alleged that the fire breakout in the second floor flat that engulfed two other flats on upper two floors, was due to negligence of MSEDCL officials concerned and have demanded monetary compensation from MSEDCL for destruction of their furniture, cash and important documents.

Avinash Yashwantrao, who is an employee with the NMMC health department in the Malaria section, claimed that there was a transformer failure after an electric speaker due to overloading on Saturday, around 9 am. Hence, there was a power supply disconnection in sectors 21 and 22. When the MSEDCL team came to replace it with an old transformer, the residents objected and demanded a new transformer. But the officials assured that though the transformer was old, it was in good working condition. When locals insisted on a new transformer, the officials said that for replacement with new transformer, it will take 3-4 days for procurement, and till then, there will be no power supply.

Yashwantrao said, "Hence, the locals agreed to the replacement of the old transformer. On Saturday, around 8.05 pm, the old transformer failed as well after electric sparks, and it immediately impacted the electrical wiring of the 2nd-floor flat number 203, where, reportedly, due to a short circuit, a major fire broke out. The flat owner, Parveen Sayyad, had gone to buy groceries, leaving her minor daughter Aisha alone at home to play carrom with her friends. Sayyad had just reached the building when the fire broke out. She shouted for Aisha to run downstairs, but she and her two friends had panicked seeing the blaze quickly spreading."

Yashwantrao added, "As the fire gutted the flats 303 and 403 on the above two floors, the building residents panicked even as the building was filled with fire smoke. Before the fire brigade arrived around 8.20 pm, though my wife and I were trapped in the building, instead of escaping to save our lives, we took a risk to save the lives of three children screaming for help by carrying them from the 2nd floor and running downstairs. We sustained burn injuries to our palms and soles as the fire had spread to the staircase. Thereafter, the firefighters rescued around 15 residents, before which the residents rushed Avishka and me to Indravati hospital in Airoli and Aisha was taken by her mother to NMMC hospital, Vashi. It was later learnt that three other injured, including the tenant Vishal Jagtap (32) and his spouse Ankita (29) and a housemaid Kaushalya Pimpale (55) were admitted to Basil hospital in Koparkhairane."


Aavishka Yashwantrao said, "As the blaze in the Kuber building has devastated the lives of tenants and owners in the building due to the destruction of their property, the MSEDCL authorities are accountable for the incident due to their negligence in ensuring proper electricity supply and maintenance. Moreover, after the blaze, the MSEDCL immediately brought a new transformer for replacement, which they had previously claimed was currently unavailable and would take 3-4 days."


Siddharth Bansode, MSEDCL executive engineer (Vashi division) said, "The allegations of the injured tenant blaming MSEDCL for negligence causing the fire breakout is technically inappropriate. Since the fire broke out on the second-floor flat. If it was due to transformer failure, then firstly, the fire breakout should have been in the building's meter room, where the electricity cable from the transformer gets connected for power supply to all flats. However, the govt fire safety inspector from Thane and the NMMC fire brigade, upon inspection after extinguishing the fire, found that the cable supplying power from the transformer to the meter room was not damaged, and the meter room was not affected. Even the first-floor flats were not affected. Hence, prima facie it seems like the fire breakout was due to a short circuit in the second-floor flat, after which it spread to two flats on the upper two floors. However, the report of fire safety inspector is awaited to ascertain the actual cause of fire in the building."