Mumbai News: HPCL Denies Compensation To Families Of Students Killed In 2015 Kurla Restaurant Fire

Mumbai: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, whose agents supplied cooking gas to City Kinara restaurant in Kurla where a fire on October 16, 2015 killed eight people, including seven engineering students from a nearby college, has denied compensation to families of the victims, claiming that the blaze was not directly caused by a leak from their LPG cylinders.

BMC Ordered to Pay Rs 50 Lakh

HPCL said this in a reply to an application under the Right to Information Act by citizens' group, Watchdog Foundation. Meanwhile, as the deadline for the payment of Rs 50 lakh as compensation by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to the kin of the victims ends early next month, the families are yet to hear about the payment.

The compensation was ordered by the Bombay High Court on June 10 after the families filed an appeal against the Lokayukta's order on February 27, 2017, that asked BMC to pay Rs one lakh each to the families.

Family members of the victims at a protest

HPCL Cites Electrical Short Circuit

In its reply, HPCL also declined to terminate the Memorandum of Agreement dated May 23, 2011, with M Laxmi Gas Service, the gas dealer, saying there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that the fire was caused by LPG explosion and that the probable cause of fire is electrical short circuit.

The company said that the small restaurant is spread over two levels, with the mezzanine floor used to store gas cylinders and the two cylinders were intact. The victims, including students from the Kurla engineering college, were seated on the mezzanine floor. The eight victim was an engineer.

The company said that though the dining hall was gutted, there was no damage on the ground floor. It was also claimed that the CCTV went off before capturing the occurrence of fire, establishing that an electric short circuit caused the fire.

A memorial for the victims

Families and Watchdog Foundation Seek Justice

Advocate Godfrey Pimenta of Watchdog Foundation, which has been helping the families of the victims to find justice, said that the company's answers were unsatisfactory.

In its order, the High Court blamed the BMC for negligence as the restaurant was operating without a fire safety clearance and ordered the BMC to compensate the families within 12 weeks of its order.

Parents Continue Legal Battle

Parents of students, who had fought a long legal battle to get justice, have filed a caveat in the Supreme Court, seeking a notification in case the BMC challenges the Bombay High Court order. "It is a first-of-its-kind case," said Pimenta.

Rekha Thapar, mother of Akash, a third-year student of information technology at Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Kurla, who lost his life in the fire, said that while no amount of money can replace her son's life, the compensation is poor.

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"Akash was a bright student and would have earned an annual salary package of Rs 50 lakh after a few years of experience. But we were waiting for justice for 10 years. I did not miss a single hearing despite the fact that my husband is bedridden," said Thapar, a resident of Sion.

Pimenta said that HPCL declined to cancel its contract with the dealer though it is a matter of record in the proceedings before the Bombay High Court that Hotel City Kinara was not a registered customer of the agency (HPCL letter under RTI to Watchdog Foundation ).

"Further, as per the charge sheet filed by the Vinoba Bhave Police Station, the statement of the delivery person confirms that gas cylinders from the agency were being delivered to Hotel City Kinara on alternate days. The MoU between HPCL and the gas agency clearly provides that HPCL reserves the right to terminate the dealership agreement at its sole discretion in the event of the dealer supplying unauthorised gas connections," said Pimenta.