Mumbai under attack...!

Mumbai was under attack earlier also. On 26 July 2005 most parts of Mumbai were submerged under water. That was nature’s fury. On several occasions there were bomb blasts planted by terrorists which devastated the streets of Mumbai. That was man-made fury. It is still not clear whether the recent fire in Mantralaya, the power centre of Maharashtra, was an accident or man-made fury.

However this incident raises some serious questions about the safety standards of the buildings in Mumbai. The chief minister had said after the incident that a fire drill is conducted every 15 days in Mantralaya. Then why there were some occupants of the building trying to get down through windows and drain pipelines? That questions the quality of fire drill being conducted, if at all. It looks like the drills are conducted only for records purposes and no one took them seriously ever.

What is surprising is also the fact that the fire which apparently started on 4^th floor on left wing of Mantralaya spread laterally first and not vertically, thereby engulfing the entire upper floors. And the latest revelations by the Dy. Chief Minister that he is ‘baffled’ that his office was burnt down completely while the Chief Minister’s office was unscathed, is truly baffling. Going by the media, which immediately cried foul suggesting that this was an act of sabotage to destroy critical evidence in illegal land deals, is it not the CM who should question this rare co-incidence that only the Dy. CM’s office is destroyed in the fire? This definitely guides the people into believing that there was indeed some foul play in the entire episode.

The credibility of the Maharashtra government had been in question ever since the Adarsh scan broke out few months back. Some important files related to the case were reportedly stolen from highly protected zones in a very suspicious manner. It was followed by allegations of several land scams by powerful politicians from the ruling alliance. The allegations are made for misappropriating hundreds of acres of land valuing at thousands of Crores.

The optimists may still believe that there is no sabotage involved here. Because our beloved politicians have so far not stooped so low, so as to brazenly destroy everything endangering the lives of all employees working there. This was the meanest thing they could do. Two lives have been reported lost in this incident so far. Surely, our politicians cannot do this, however bad they become.

But unfortunately, the odds are heavily stacked against them. The circumstances and the past events do precious little to come in their support. There is bound to be a growing opinion among masses that this was a case of sabotage to bail out their futures, which otherwise looked bleak under the scams. They are in an unenviable situation where they shall be considered guilty till they are proved innocent and not otherwise.

Whenever the underworld attacks Mumbai, some innocent lives are lost. The politicians are attacking Mumbai every moment taking the hard earned money of the taxpayers. The politicians have turned themselves into white collared terrorists.

It remains to be seen whether the truth will ever come out about this fire incident. It probably will not. We only hope that the political class across the country does not learn a new lesson in escaping from their respective allegations.