A massive fire broke out at a three-storeyed ‘illegal’ Om Sai Guest House in the Navghar Road area at the wee hours of Wednesday. Fortunately, no casualty was reported from here. It is said to be allegedly an illegal building belongs to the former corporator, on which MBMC had taken action, two years ago.
The guest house has an eatery on the ground floor whereas the other two floors are used for a lodging facility. It is reported that furniture and façade worth more than Rs 22 lakh were gutted in the fire.
The fire started on the ground floor and reached to all the floors.
After receiving the information, firefighters from Silver Park and Kankiya rushed to the spot to seize the blaze. Deputy officers Sadanand Patil, sub-station in-charge Sanjay More, Vitthal Bhabal, Firemen Vasudev Bhoir, Jaykumar Patil, Samadhan Mali, Darpan Patil, Prasad Tandel, Rishabh Patil, Dinesh Vaishnav were on the spot. The intensity of the fire was such that Fire Brigade officials took more than four hours with five tender-engines to control and doused the flames.
The reason for the blaze broke out yet to be ascertained. However, it is suspected that an electric short circuit sparked the fire.
A fire broke out in a steel warehouse adjacent to the Om Sai Guest House. The shutters on the ground floor were locked. Fire personnel broke the locked shutters to extinguished the fire. The gas cylinders were taken out of the kitchen. However, the stock of alcohol may have the strength of the flames.
‘Illegal’ building owned by BJP Corporator’s husband?
The building belongs the husband of BJP corporator and Ward Committee Chairperson Meena Kangane. Her husband Yashwant Kangane was also BJP corporator in the previous tenure.
However, the Om Sai Guest House has been ‘illegally’ constructed. According to the sources, MBMC had taken stern action against it, two years ago.