Residents blame builder for second blaze in two months

Two months after a fire broke out in a 13-storey building in Kharghar, a different wing of the same society witnessed another blaze last afternoon. No casualties were reported.

Ashen: Samir Hasan Dingankar's home on the fifth floor was partly charred in the fire. But he was grateful to have survived the blaze

Residents blamed the builders for the mishap, alleging that their repeated requests for more fire safety measures had been ignored.

Around 12.30 pm on Tuesday, fourth floor in the C wing of Goodwill Paradise at Sector 15 in Kharghar caught fire. Soon, the flames spread to the sixth floor.

Hari Prasad Pande, a resident of the fourth floor, said, "I saw flames coming out of the meter box. I opened the door but the flames were entering my home. I immediately asked my family to go to the bedroom. We thought of using a ladder to escape, but there was none, so we had to use bedsheets and other such things to climb down."

Fire officials said around 40,000 litre of water was needed todouse the fire. The residents said that the society did not have a managing committee and the builder had control. They alleged that despite repeatedly asking the builder to install sprinklers and fire alarms, their pleas went unheeded.

Another resident said, "After the previous fire in the society's B wing, we had asked for safety arrangements. But till date, nothing has been done about it."

u00a0Just bad lucK, says builder
The society's builder, a firm called Goodwill Developers, said the mishap was "sheer bad luck". Hakimbhai Lakdawala of the firm said, "The residents have panicked and are looking for excuses. The building is three years old and we have all the permissions and fire equipment with us, as per the NMMC guidelines. Since this is the second incident in the last two months, I'd say it is sheer bad luck." u00a0u00a0