Fire at Crawford Market: Who should pay the cost of the lost livelihood?

The fire at Crawford Market on Friday in Mumbai, that razed a number of shops may have been extinguished, but the questions remain: what led to such a mishap? Who should be held accountable? Why wasn’t the fire controlled?

The blaze that engulfed Manish and Sara-Sahara markets early Saturday has thrown up many questions. Although the prima-facie evidence suggests that the fire was caused by a short circuit, other possibilities have not been ruled out.

Sara-Sahara Mall, allegedly owned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, is a disputed property after it was demolished following a Supreme Court order in 2006. Mid Day reported that till Saturday, the Mall sold highly combustible goods including garments, perfumes, lighters and electronic equipment such as mobile phones. It also violated the law stealing electricity from the neighbourhood.

While fire officials and later the BMC disaster management cell say that they got the alarm only at 3.43 am, eyewitnesses put the time of fire at anywhere between 2.30am and 3am. Local traders and businessmen say that it was sabotage.

Both the CM and the Home Minister have called for a probe, reports  The Times of India .

The sequence of events

The fire, which broke out around 3 am on Friday, originated from Sahara Mall and spread to the adjoining Manish market, Mohta Market and Mohammad Ali Road, was put out 12 hours later by 40 fire tenders and 200 fishermen.

When the Chief Fire Officer, Mujawar, who has auditory and prosecution powers following the implementation of the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures Act (2006) in 2008 was asked by MidDay when was the last time the fire audit was conducted in Manish Market, he replied “Even if we do the audit, whom do we issue the notice to? Who would take the responsibility of implementing our guidelines and installing fire safety equipment?"

Crawfard Market’s Black Friday has been the worst for the 27 year old Mohammed Anjum, the sole bread-winner of his family, who said that everything was over for him. “I had to watch my shop and all the material inside burn. Even after the fire is doused, there is nothing left for me to do,” said Anjum, who owns a cloth shop at Manish Market and another at Sara-Sahara, reported TOI .

Not just for Anjum, with a loss of more than a crore and counting, it has probably been the worst days for the small time traders who sold chinese cellphone and toys, the fruit shop owners and the jewellery makers in the market. Set up and having evolved as a group of unorganised traders, markets like Crawford will struggle to recoup losses.

And it will take still longer for precautions to be set up, given that the reasons for the fire are still unclear.