Mumbai Fire Brigade Urges Collector To Handover Andheri's Chitrakoot Ground For Ambivali Fire Station, Cites Delayed Emergency Response

Mumbai: The Chief Fire Officer (CFO) of the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) has written a strong letter to the Mumbai Suburban District Collector, reminding them to hand over the Chitrakoot ground plot in Andheri West, which is reserved for the Ambivali fire station. The ground is currently occupied by M/s Shah Constructions, which continues to organise private events.

In his letter dated June 25, the CFO has highlighted the urgency and necessity of developing a full-fledged fire station ‘in order to save lives, property and to minimise damages’.

“I would like to bring to notice that at present to cope the all fire and other emergencies, the fire engines are turned out from Andheri Fire Station and the response time to attend emergency calls in this area is more. Traffic conditions is also worst. To minimise the life & property loss due to delay in response time, the expansion of the fire brigade with infrastructure is very much necessary,” the letter to the collector says.

The letter also states the rapid infrastructural development, new commercial and residential structures in Andheri, which makes it very difficult to handle more than one emergency call simultaneously.

The FPJ had reported in its May 17 edition that the Mumbai Suburban Collector will take a final call on revoking the developmental rights from M/s Shah Constructions and vacating the Chitrakoot ground in Andheri West. The developmental rights were valid till January 2025; however, till date, the developer has neither started construction of the fire station nor vacated the plot.

The 5500 sq mt plot is reserved for the Ambivali fire station under the development plan 2034. For over a decade now, MFB has been sending reminders and notices to the BMC K-West ward office and M/s Shah Constructions to stop commercial activities and build a fire station.

“The developer pays no heed, and the ward office has rarely even replied to our notices. We have now approached the development plan department of BMC and asked the status of the plot handover,” said a senior MFB officer.

The matter will be once again raised in the state assembly session, this time by Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Haroon Khan, representing Versova constituency. In the last assembly session, the issue was raised by BJP MLA Ameet Satam, who represents the Andheri West constituency.

Speaking with the FPJ, MLA Haroon Khan said, “Raj Purohit from M/s Shah Constructions claims that the land was given to his ancestors as refugees who came from West Pakistan, and thus he owns the land. The district collector is verifying the claims. A report has been submitted by the regional district collector on the same.”

“Whatsoever, a fire station needs to be constructed on that land, which is of utmost importance. Shah Constructions now says that they have done the soil testing and are requesting time to construct the fire station. However, the Mumbai Fire Brigade has asked for possession of the land to build the fire station themselves. I will be raising the issue in the ongoing assembly. The matter needs to come to a conclusion,” the MLA added.