Every other day there is a fire incident in Mumbai in which people lose their lives, the Bombay High Court said on Wednesday, pulling up the Maharashtra government for dragging its feet on implementation of fire safety rules and regulations.
A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor said this was a ”very very serious” issue and ”no laxness can be accepted”.
”Fire incidents appear to be on a rise. Every other day in this city there is a fire incident and there are reports of people losing their lives,” CJ Upadhyaya said.
The court said it was not its job to keep prompting the government on what steps need to be taken.
”This is not done. Are we sitting here to prompt you (the government) for every action? Is this our job? What is all this happening here?” CJ Upadhyaya said.
The bench referred to the fire incident that occurred recently in a four-story residential building in south Mumbai, where an 82-year-old woman and her 60-year-old son lost their lives.
”The manner in which these two deaths have occurred…is this what you (government) want for the people in this city…to lose their loved family members like this?” CJ Upadhyaya asked.
Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan informed the court that an expert committee, formed last year, had in February 2023 submitted its report.
