Year before Thane market fire, audit report talked of 'choked escape route', 'administrative lapses'

Over a year before a major fire at a vegetable market killed two persons in Maharashtra's Thane on Thursday, an audit report had categorically stated that no life-saving measures were in place in the building from where it operates, and warned of a ''large loss of life and property'' in case of an emergency.

Fire station officer Sagar Shinde and security guard Kalu Gadekar were killed while two other fire personnel were injured after a massive blaze erupted at the Gamdevi vegetable market located near the Thane railway around 3.30 am on Thursday. As many as 155 stalls were gutted in the fire.

Huge flames and thick smoke rising from the burning stalls triggered panic in the area.

The vegetable market operates on the ground floor of the two-storey building, while the Deputy Registrar's office and the Naupada Ward Committee office operates on its first and second floors.

An inspection report released on April 7, 2025 by the Jawaharbagh Fire Station, under whose jurisdiction the incident happened, said, ''No fire prevention and life-saving measures have been taken in the entire building.'' It also warned of a ''large loss of life and property'' if an emergency occurred there.

It said that the escape routes of the building were choked. A vital staircase leading from the basement bike parking, which holds up to 450 vehicles daily, was completely blocked and closed off by unauthorised construction, leaving the basement with only a single entry and exit point.

The report also said readymade clothing stalls were illegally operating on the ground floor, displaying highly flammable garments directly adjacent to high-voltage electrical panels, the motor room, and the main electricity meter room.

It added that the fire extinguishers inside the building's top-floor skill development center, frequented by nearly 300 students and staff, were left un-refilled.

The report also said that there were ''total administrative lapses'' as no fire prevention or life safety measures were implemented in the active government offices housed within the complex.

Local BJP MLA Sanjay Kelkar blamed the civic administration for the incident and sought the suspension of the assistant municipal commissioner of the area.

''Following relocation of the Jawahar Baugh fire station, we had demanded that two fire tenders be stationed near Dadoji Konddev Stadium for rapid response. Because the main fire brigade station was shifted from Jawahar Baugh to Balkum for redevelopment, it took more than half an hour for emergency assistance to arrive,'' he said.

Moreover, while the market was specifically meant for fruits and vegetables, clothes and other highly inflammable materials were allowed to be sold through rampant encroachments, he added.

''The AMC must be suspended. Displaced vendors must be given compensation and temporary rehabilitation at nearby Gaondevi Maidan. The kin of the deceased must be given municipal jobs,'' the MLA said.

Newly-appointed Thane City Congress chief Rahul Pingle attacked the Shiv Sena-ruled Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) over the incident.

Accusing the civic administration of criminal negligence, he said the market fire was a man-made disaster caused by bureaucratic lethargy.

''It was an accident waiting to happen,'' Pingle said, and demanded that a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder be registered against the responsible civic officials for ''playing with the lives of citizens''.

''The Congress party had explicitly forewarned Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao in writing about severe safety lapses, structural violations, and fire hazards at the complex, but the warnings were met with complete administrative apathy,'' Pingle told PTI.

''We had warned the administration from time to time. Despite a detailed fire department report highlighting critical vulnerabilities, officials chose to remain asleep. Unauthorized constructions were ignored, basic fire-fighting systems were never installed, and the building was allowed to operate without an Occupancy Certificate (OC) or a final Fire NOC,'' Pingle said.

Those who ignored the fire department's explicit rectification orders must face immediate criminal prosecution, the Congress leader demanded.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)