Sushil Kutty
The 1Above – God Almighty – was not with them that midnight hour when 1Above and Mojo Bistro in Kamala Mills Compound burned, killing 14 and injuring 26. ‘Illegal’ was the word doing the rounds the day after. “Something burnt,” sniffed reporters picking up the story from the ashes.
The toilet on the terrace where birthday girl Khushboo Mehta alias “Khushi” suffocated to death was illegal, so were the bamboo and tarpaulin. Asphyxiating to death in a toilet on your birthday is the worst that can be wished on anybody on Earth.
Somebody had locked shut the door opening to the staircase leading to life. Couldn’t somebody else that burning hour not kicked it open with a few pointed kicks? It appears the thought never entered the feverish minds that night of Agni.
Lots of people lost their mojo in 1Above and Mojo Bistro. The municipal body should not have allowed 1Above to be one above the rest when it came fire-safety requirements. Everybody but the fire safety officer was given his say, it seems in hindsight.
Most of those were killed were young. The flames engulfed three pubs sitting cheek and jowl with each other. And therein lies the tragedy, writes the First Post, “quite possibly the largest concentration of eateries in the entire city.” A search by the FP team yielded 36 names of “restaurants, bars, cafes, clubs and pubs” in Kamala Mills Compound.
Kamala was generous in her breadth. The bigger tragedy was that if one pub burns the next one to it also blazes, and the next one and the next one… Those at risk included rooftop pubs, restaurants, discotheques, a gaming arcade and live event venues. Kamala was indeed generous in her embrace.
Thursday night’s fire started from 1Above and then spread to neighbouring joint Mojo’s Bistro. Both hung on to the same terrace building illegal extensions. ‘Exits’ were few and of those that were there, some were locked shut.
Fire safety norms were thrown to the wind. Both 1Above and Mojo Bistro were standing on rickety legs of corruption. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is a den of the corrupt ever willing to break rules for a dinero or two.
The First Post report of December 29 said rentals have doubled in two years, “up from Rs 200 per square feet to Rs 400 per square feet with either a fixed rent or a 15 percent share, whichever is higher.”
Some of the names of the 36 eateries in the compound prick the ear and stays in the mind. Like 1Above, Farzi Café, Talaiva, Mighty Small, Poh, D’Oh and Oye Kake…
Of the dead, 11 were women in their twenties including the birthday girl Khushboo Mehta. They all died of inhaling deadly fumes.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said five BMC officials have been suspended and a case has been registered against the owner of 1Above.
According to NDTV, a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activist had complained to the BMC about the “illegal structures waiting for a disaster”. He was told there was “nothing illegal” and advised to take a hike and not look back. Fadnavis in a late rush has ordered a citywide audit of “similar structures”.
The BJP-Shiv Sena-held BMC admitted to negligence but both the singed parties were trying their best to come out of the blaze of adverse publicity squeaky-clean. ‘In future…” has become their favourite mantra.
The fire started in 1Above and then took in its deadly embrace Mojo’s Bistro. The roof was replete with a feast of bamboo and tarpaulin, best food for a fire to grow fast.
Some idiots who tarried to take selfies of themselves with the flames behind got their behinds burned, said witnesses who stumbled past them in a liquor-induced haze. Every drunk on the roof was running, stumbling and getting singed.
Medical practitioner Dr Sulbha Arora, who was there, tweeted “There was no time for anyone to reach out because the fire spread so quickly. The staff of the restaurant were trying to help the customers as much as possible.”
It is a wonder she saw all this and still managed to escape without a hair burned. She was saved by the 1Above, God Almighty!
The post Kamala Mills fire: 1Above had no Mojo Thursday night appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
