Mumbai: A fire broke out at the studio of Rajashri Production at Worli at 11.39 am Sunday. No casualty was reported. The studio, located on the second floor of the ‘B’ wing of six-storey Poonam Chambers, spans approximately 12,000–13,000 sqft. Being a Sunday, the building—primarily a commercial establishment—had limited occupancy, like security personnel at the time.
Locals said that the glass façade of the building caused smoke to get trapped, complicating the escape of fumes. It took firefighters more than three hours to extinguish the blaze.
According to Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray, who visited the site, a training session of doctors was going on on the ground floor when the fire was detected. All the occupants managed to escape before the fire spread.
According to a BMC official at the site, “The office premises of Rajashri Enterprises was shut. However, their staff reached the place on learning about the blaze. The fire was confined to the second floor.”
The civic officer said that while the security guards did try to operate some of the inbuilt firefighting equipment, it did not help to douse the flames.
Locals from the nearby Poonam Apartments said they witnessed intense smoke billowing out of the building. “We could see the glass covering the building bursting due to the heat. The firefighters were running in and out wearing oxygen masks. It was good that the blaze was controlled in time. Otherwise, it could have spread to the nearby area, including the large Markandeswar slum pocket beside it. We heard that there was some renovation work going on on the first floor,” said a resident. However, BMC officials said that tiles were being changed on the first floor of the building; but they said that no work was being carried out. The building had been reconstructed in early 2000, said BMC officials.
