BMC Had Ignored Red Flag, Didn't Review Sunrise's Provisional OC

Mumbai: The BMC’s building proposal department had raised a red flag last August and said that the grant of provisional Occupation Certificate (OC) to Bhandup’s Sunrise Hospital must be reviewed and it wasn’t proper to de-link the irregularities of Dreams Mall from the hospital. However, despite a detailed report from the department, the BMC did not review or revoke the provisional OC.

- Chaitanya Marpakwar

Early on Friday, a major fire broke out in the mall and spread to Sunrise Hospital located on the third floor. Over 70 patients were rescued and 11 bodies found. The fire was extinguished on Saturday—after 40 hours.

In August 2020, deputy chief engineer of the building proposal department (eastern suburbs) NR Khanolkar had submitted a detailed report stating that Privilege Healthcare Services, which owned the hospital, had not complied with conditions mentioned in the provisional OC approved by then BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi four months ago. The report also stated that the firm had neither replied to BMC nor submitted the mandatory documents for OC—the hospital was asked to submit them within one month of easing of lockdown restrictions.