February 4: THE BMC "A" ward officer Rajendra Vale today categorically said that high pressured oxygen cylinders had been illegally kept within the premises of the fire-ravaged Mukesh Mills in Colaba, but the mill authorities maintained they had not flouted any rules.Vale said: "To keep such big cylinders, used mainly to cut and dismantle heavy machinery, the mill authorities should have applied for a licence from the municipal corporation. But to the best of my knowledge, no licence was taken for keeping such potentially dangerous items."
When the fire broke out in the mill's defunct ring section early Tuesday morning, around 50 youths from the adjoining Mukesh Mill workers quarters dared the blaze to remove 19 oxygen cylinders, each weighing over 70 kilograms, from the site to a safer spot. A bigger disaster was thus averted. But even as the fire gutted the two-storeyed building in the mill, at least two explosions were heard, and both were reported to have been caused by the bursting of LPG cylindersat the site.
Vale, however, didn't wish to comment on the cause of the fire till official investigations were over. "Action can be taken on the mill authorities only after the Fire Report is out," he said.
However, the mill supervisors denied having broken any rules by keeping those cylinders. Legal officials at the mill said: "We don't need a licence for using such oxygen cylinders. We would have required one only if we were to do a business in supplying the cylinders. That's why application for the licence was not made."
Another fallout of the fire is that the mill will tentatively not offer its premises for film shootings. Mill in-charge Laxman Rao said: "For some time, the mill will not be hired out for Bollywood and TV shoots. As it is, there were no bookings made for future shoots in the mill."
The last shooting -- that of a music album by Aroon Bakshi, son of music director Anand Bakshi -- had taken place on Saturday and the set was dismantled the same day.
There has reportedly been a generalslump in the block booking of shootings in the city following the murder of Gulshan Kumar last year, and the mill officials pointed out that on many occasions the issue of films being shot within the mill premises were brought up during the civil and criminal court cases being fought between the management and families of workers staying in the mill compound.
Secretary of the Lokshahi Hakka Sanghatana, Antony Samy, reiterated that the Maharashtra government should immediately probe into the fire incident (second case since 1982) and protect the rights of 157 workers' families residing in the compound for three generations.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
