Reported by Sandeep Ashar in Timesofindia.indiatimes.com on Jul 12, 2012
Mantralaya didn’t alert us on hotline: Fire department - The Times of India

MUMBAI: Another lapse in the tackling of the Mantralaya fire tragedy has come to light. In its report, the Mumbai fire brigade has said it did not receive information about the fire from a hotline set up by the government to improve fire response in and around the seat of power.

The report, submitted by Nariman Point station officer SN Talekar and obtained under RTI by an activist, states that "there exists a hotline between the Vidhan Bhavan and Nariman Point fire station. It's in working condition."

Even as the hotline was set up with the basic aim of improving response to a fire, the report claims that "no information was received through this hotline regarding the fire call at Mantralaya."

The Vidhan Bhavan is at a stone throw from Mantralaya. While there are accounts which claim that the fire first broke out around 2.30 pm on June 21 (the government has reported the time of fire as 2.40 pm), the fire brigade report claimed that the fire control room received at 2.46 pm.

The report has disclosed two phone numbers from which the first call came (numbers withheld to protect identity). None match the hotline number. Activist Chetan Kothari had filed an RTI query regarding the fire brigade's report. The lapse was also discussed in the state legislative council on Tuesday.