Mumbai The outside wall and the roof of Andheri (west) railway station were damaged after three-four shops outside the station premises caught fire in the wee hours on Friday. No one was injured in the incident.
At around 5.30am the station area saw shops engulfed in high flames. The shops were located opposite the bus stop. The fire started from the shops engulfed the outer cover of railway wall which is made of plastic before it spread to the roof.
Some parts of platform number 1 were also damaged. With the incident taking place early in the morning, there hardly any crowd outside the station or on the platform inside. The station witnesses heavy footfall during peak hours.
According to the Disaster Management team of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire was brought under control within 10 minutes and then cooling operations were conducted. “Three to four shops had caught fire. It was reported at 5.48am and doused at 5.58am,” an official said.
Andheri station is heavily encroached by hawkers and illegal shops. The BMC officials, however, did not comment whether these shops were given licenses to operate.
Station officer, Andheri Fire Brigade, Amol Khanolkar said, “We have called witnesses and people involved for investigations after which we will know the exact cause. Preliminary probe points to short circuit, but further investigations will reveal more details soon.”
Post the incident, all the shops in the busy lane of the station area were shut. When HT visited the area, railway officials were seen fixing the damage. The outside wall that caught fire damaged cables on the platform.
A Western Railways (WR) official, said, “Certain cable lines were damaged on the outer area of the station, but nothing major. It was restored immediately. It did not cause inconvenience to commuters.”