Fire sweeps Mantralaya, 2 die

Govt And Fire Brigade Caught Unprepared Important Records Destroyed 

• 15 Injured

Mumbai: Two people died and 15 were injured in a fire that raged through the top four floors of the eight-storey Mantralaya, Maharashtra's seat of power, through most of Thursday. The blaze, which started at 2.35pm, was still on at the time of going to press and it had reportedly destroyed thousands of sensitive documents, computer files and records, many pertaining to land use, de-reservation and the crucial Adarsh society scam. 

    A combing operation by the fire brigade late in the evening revealed two bodies outside deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's chamber. "Two bodies, completely charred, were found on the sixth floor," BMC chief Sitaram Kunte confirmed. "Both the bodies were handed over to the police and will be sent to JJ Hospital for post-mortem." Unconfirmed reports said a third person, reported missing, may be dead, said PTI. 
    BMC officials said the two deceased were Umesh Potekar and Mahesh Gughale, businessmen from Baramati. Officials said Pawar had been informed that two people were trapped on the sixth floor. "The deputy CM tried to speak to them but no contact was possible after some time," a Mantralaya official said. 
    Mantralaya has 2,500 to 3,000 employees and on any given day about 3,000 visitors. Apart from Ajit Pawar, home minister R R Patil, minister of state for home Satej Patil, EGS minister Nitin Raut and chief secretary Jayantkumar Banthia were among those in the building when disaster struck. Additional chief secretary (home) Amitabh Rajan and NCP leader Vinayak Mete escaped using a fire ladder from the top floors. 
    Thursday's fire badly exposed the lack of preparedness of Mumbai's fire brigade and the poor fire safety equipment in the state's most important building. It raised awkward questions about the government's desire to build vertically in the city and allow towers when it struggled to control a blaze in a ground-plus- sevenstorey building. 
    In frightening scenes, many employees, including women on the higher floors, frantically tried to escape from the 57-year-old building. They crowded on balconies or perched on window sills and ledges. The scenes of people clambering down water pipes were reminiscent of recent highrise fires in Kolkata and Bangalore.