Though the Bombay High Court recently directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to pay Rs 50 lakh to each family who lost a loved one in the Hotel City Kinara fire that occurred in October 2015, the grieving parents are now fighting a larger battle. With the help of Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, the families have appealed to the Ministry of Petroleum to take strict action against gas agencies — specifically Laxmi Gas Agency — for illegally supplying LPG cylinders to roadside eateries.

“As per the charge sheet of the incident, the cylinder delivery person from Laxmi Gas Agency admitted he would deliver cylinders to Hotel City Kinara every two days. However, through an RTI, we discovered that City Kinara was never a direct HPCL customer. This clearly means the agency was supplying the cylinders in black,” Pimenta said.

Passers-by stand in front of restaurant to eat food bought from nearby eateries, turning once-busy eatery into eerie roadside pause point