Mumbaikars shocked, but stand united to tackle the crisis

The otherwise busy and buzzing south Mumbai on Thursday turned into a prohibited area, immediately after a major fire broke out at the white-coloured seven-storey Mantralaya, the state secretariate building.

As the fire was spreading speedily, so was the news that led officegoers and nearby residents to flock to the secretariate building to have a first-hand view.

By the time fire tenders reached the building, the police and the high profile Force One were deployed in a large numbers. The entire area was cordoned and traffic diverted, leading to massive jams in the area.

Witnesses at the venue recalled the March 1993 bomb blast, which took place at the landmark Air India building, very close to the Mantralaya.

A youth in his 30s explained: "It’s quite sad the fire broke out in the birth centenary of Maharashtra' first chief minister Y B Chavan, and also during the 75th year of the Maharashtra state legislature."

Jitendra Awvad, a legislator belonging to the ruling Nationalist Congress Party, was also busy narrating the importance of Mantralaya for the 80 million population of Maharashtra. He said such a situation needed to be tackled by all unitedly, and nobody should engage in criticism.

By the time the sun set and Chief Minister Prtithviraj Chavan and his deputy, Ajit Pawar, started taking stock of the events, Mumbaikars left the building to start afresh from Friday.