A year on, Mumbai's Bandra mall fire victims still await justice and relief

A year after a massive fire gutted Link Square Mall in Bandra destroying around 200 businesses over a gruelling 22hour firefighting operation While a preliminary report points to an electrical short circuit a final conclusion remains pending leaving affected traders without closure or compensation Of the nearly 200 tenants who lost their shops only 20 to 30 have managed to restart businesses in the area many after taking on debt or shifting to alternate livelihoodsPreliminary report points to electrical causeSmoke billows from Link Square Mall during the fire last year PicAtul KambleFire officials said initial findings suggested the blaze may have originated from an electrical short circuit which then spread rapidly due to flammable materials inside the building Chief Fire Officer Ravindra Ambulgaker confirmed that the preliminary report submitted to the BMC also indicated an electrical originSlow recovery in numbersCharred remains of Link Square Mall a year after the 22hour blaze PicsSayyed Sameer AbedigtgtAround 200 businesses were destroyedgtgtOnly 2030 tenants have restarted operationsgtgtFirefighting operation lasted 22 hoursThe Mumbai Fire Brigade MFB reportThe report was submitted by the Mumbai Fire Brigade in June 2025 over a month after the fire1 The firefighting system was nonfunctional and the building lacked automatic sprinklers This acts as a ldquofire traprdquo2 The fire started in a basement electronics showroom and was intensified by a sealed unventilated structure3 The manual firesafety system hose pipesextinguishers did not work because the power went out and there were no automatic sprinkler systems4 The report suggested action against the private agency responsible for auditing the fire systems as they had declared the firefighting system operational while it actually failed during fire fighting operationsCivic probe into fire safety lapsesFollowing the incident the then Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani ordered an inquiry under the then Joint Municipal Commissioner D GangadharanThe inquiry is examininggtgtWhy the twodecadeold building was granted a fire NOCgtgt Whether firefighting systems were compliant with safety normsgtgtWhy existing systems failed to respond effectively during the fireFire brigade findings indicated that while firefighting systems were operational they were not up to the required standards to handle a blaze of such intensityRestarting at a costCharred remains of Link Square Mall stand a year after the 22hour blaze PicsSayyed Sameer AbediSome traders have managed to resume operations by taking financial risks Ashfque Patel a former tenant has reopened his shop in the basement of a nearby complex ldquoThere have been meetings with the mall owner where rebuilding was discussed We hope work begins soonrdquo he said Another tenant who requested anonymity said he had to pawn his wifersquos jewellery to restart business ldquoWe are far from recovering our losses Every day we work next to the burnt remains of what we lostrdquo he saidTraders count lossesFor many tenants the financial impact has been devastating with little to no compensationMohammad Naem Mistry who ran ldquoFine Menrdquo on the first floor said he suffered losses of 6ndash7 lakhldquoI have not received a single rupee As a midscale shop I did not have insurance I approached MLAs and MPs but nothing came of itrdquo he saidMistry spent much of the past year working with ridesharing and delivery platforms such as Rapido and Porter to sustain himselfldquoI couldnrsquot contact the mall owner and could not afford rent elsewhere I recently found an office job but I have received nothing in return for my lossesrdquo he addedFire broke out before dawn response delayedAccording to fire officials the first call to the fire brigade was received at 352 am However the alert was delayed as those who initially spotted the fire attempted to douse it themselves before contacting authorities A senior fire official said ldquoIt was a very dangerous and intense fire Our teams attempted to enter the structure to control it from inside but the heat made it extremely difficult forcing them to retreatrdquoThe blaze took nearly 22 hours to bring under controlInputs by Eeshanpriya MS