Mumbai, March 5 : Real estate prices in Bandra are sky-high, and many builders and developers had been eyeing this property in Behrampada and Garib Nagar for a while, says a media report.
Sprawled across a few acres of prime land, the slums of Behrampada and Garib Nagar are a goldmine for developers, reports The Hindustan Times.
"These slums are very strategically located. Consider its proximity to Bandra Kurla Complex, the commercial hub of the city, and also the closeness to Bandra station, it's a very viable option for any builder. The ongoing price over here for a small 10X10 shanty can go up to Rs 25 lakh," said a real estate broker from Bandra.
The closeness to the Western express highway is another bonus for the area.
"It would be too early to speculate whether a builder, or anyone else is responsible for the fire. Let the report come out then such things could be decided," said a builder from western suburbs.Residents are now appealing to the state government to rebuild their houses besides providing compensation.
They strongly believe that the fire had been engineered by the builders' lobby, who have an eye on a huge tract of land at a prime location.
Nasreen Bano's mother, Rukhsana Sheikh said it was not possible that a cylinder blast could be the plausible reason behind such a huge fire that gutted 200-300 tenements.
Most of the locality's womenfolk were cooking their evening meals when the fire broke out and now they have nothing to eat.Nasreen could just salvage a small purse and her mobile phone in the melee that ensued, but she is thankful to God that her family is safe.One could see scenes of people salvaging their life's belongings at Behramapada, as a huge crowd of people watched the fire.
People could be seen walking with sewing machines and huge bags of clothes on their heads.
Whenever a tragedy of this scale occurs, people from the neighbouring areas come forward to help the distressed. The same was seen in Behrampada, where the embers are still burning.
Local residents were seen offering water to the distressed. One person who was hurt, was ferried away in an ambulance that made its way through the throng of people crowding the scene.
Some people claimed the flames could be seen from terraces of high-rises in Prabhadevi, which is at least 8km away.
Residents of these buildings went up to their terraces and clicked pictures of the blaze and uploaded them on a social networking website. Fire brigade officials said the fire started at 8pm on Friday.
“It kept spreading because around eight LPG cylinders burst. We could bring the fire under control only at 11pm,“ said a fire brigade official.
Twenty-six fire tenders, 16 water tankers and about 75 firemen fought the inferno for more than three hours.
The residents of the slum, however alleged that the fire brigade arrived too late. Eleven ambulances were present at the spot
Recent fires in Bandra:
February 10,2009 One person died and 23 were injured in a fire that broke out at Maharashtra Nagar slums near Bada Masjid,Bandra west.
June 19,2009 Major fire at Berhampada in Bandra east left one child dead and 29 injured.Over 300 hutments were gutted in the blaze and 2,500 people were rendered homeless.The fire engulfed an area of nearly 10,000 sq ft and endangered several hundred four-storey structures.The slum-dwellers were so agitated that they initially did not allow even fire brigade officials to enter the area.Officials had to take the help of the Special Reserve Police Force to get into the area.The blaze,described as a brigade call in firefighters parlance,was one of the biggest in the city in the last 25 years.
November 11,2010 Fire breaks out on the 9th floor of 10-storey HDIL tower in Bandra east.Two hundred fifty firefighters battle over 4 hours to control the fire and rescue 800 people.
