BJP Corporator Renews Demand for Andheri West Fire Station After Juhu Building Blaze

Following a recent residential building blaze in Juhu, BJP corporator Rupesh Sawarkar has renewed demands for the immediate construction of a long-delayed fire station at Chitrakoot Ground on Link Road in Andheri West. The civic demand was raised during a meeting convened by Mumbai suburban guardian minister Ashish Shelar at the collector's office in Bandra East to address local firefighting infrastructure.

The push for the new facility follows a serious fire incident on a Thursday morning in Juhu. The blaze, which started in an air-conditioning unit on the sixth floor of an 11-storey residential building, left eight people injured and highlighted the safety concerns and lack of adequate firefighting infrastructure in the Andheri West area.

Currently, Andheri West does not have its own active fire station. When fires occur in the locality, emergency response teams and fire tenders must be dispatched from other stations located in Marol, Goregaon, or Irla. Local advocates and residents have raised concerns that relying on these distant stations increases response times during emergencies.

To address these safety gaps, senior officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the local police, and the revenue department participated in the meeting. The attendees deliberated on the removal of alleged encroachments on the reserved Link Road plot and discussed the necessary steps for the construction of the long-pending civic facility.

Sawarkar criticized the delay in utilizing the land, alleging that the Andheri West plot reserved for the fire station has remained undeveloped for years. According to the corporator, the public land is instead being commercially exploited.

He further pointed out that multiple commercial hoardings continue to stand on the designated fire station plot. Sawarkar noted that these advertising structures remain erected even though the BMC's licence department had previously revoked the permissions for them.