Corruption in fire, structural audits of buildings: Chavan

Congress leader Ashok Chavan Monday alleged "large-scale corruption" in fire and structural audits of buildings in Mumbai and asked the Shiv Sena-ruled local civic body to own up its "mismanagement".

Reacting to Monday's blaze in MTNL building in suburban Bandra, the former Maharashtra chief minister said according to reports, the fire audit of the nine-storey structure was done just last year.

"If this is true, people need to know why the fire brigade had difficulty in rescuing those trapped. Fire brigade faced difficulties due to the small windows and closed structure of the building. This is a serious issue and its cognisance should be taken," Chavan said.

"Whether its fire audit or structural audit of buildings, recent incidents of fire and building collapse in the city have proved that there is a large-scale corruption. The civic body should own up responsibility of this failure," he said.

Last week, 13 people were killed when a multi-storey residential building collapsed in Dongri, South Mumbai.

A massive fire broke in the MTNL building in suburban Bandra this afternoon, leaving dozens of people stranded.

Sixty people were rescued from the building till evening, officials said.

Fire brigade personnel deployed an aerial ladder and other equipment to evacuate people from the blaze-hit building.