Three persons present in the cafeteria of Bombay House succumbed to asphyxiation and five others were injured in a fire which damaged the basement of the 87-year-old iconic headquarters of the Tata Group on the morning of February 9, 2011. One of the three who perished was a young Parsi cashier, Farhad Wadia, 26, who worked in the canteen run by the Ratan Tata Institute, the others being Shashank Pawar (32) and Eashwar Patel (47) who also worked there.
Ironically, Wadia, a Grant Road resident was due for a promotion the very next day. His aunt S. J. Billimoria was reported as telling Mumbai Newsline of The Indian Express (IE) on February 10 that Wadia "was going to be made a cashier on a permanent basis and his parents were waiting for his promotion” as they wanted him to get married. A commerce graduate, Wadia had been doing small odd jobs until he joined the Tata group a few months earlier. The tragedy has left his mother Silloo, father Dinshaw and younger brother Yazad distraught. A friend informed the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly of February 13, 2011 that "his mother has health problems and Farhad would always tell her ‘Don’t worry, I will look after you.’ He was really a loving son and even cooked and cleaned the house to lighten her load.”
Farhad Wadia who lost his life in the basement fire at Bombay House (below)
The fire in the heritage structure has raised a number of questions about whether safety norms had been flouted in the basement. "We are still checking our records. We have not yet ruled out the possibility of the basement not having a no objection certificate from the fire department,” fire chief Uday Tatkare told The Times of India (TOI) on February 11. Fire officials told Daily News and Analysis (DNA) of February 10 that thick cascading smoke led to the casualties. "The victims were trapped in a blanket of thick smoke and could not be easily spotted. They were at the other end of the basement, far from the exit passage,” a fire officer informed Mumbai Mirror (MM). The canteen had no gas cylinders as precooked food was reheated over a hotplate or in a microwave oven. It was suspected that the fire started as a result of a short circuit in one of the air conditioners. The basement being air conditioned, some windows were reportedly blocked and there was little scope for the smoke to clear. Fire officers had to use crowbars and hammers to break the split air conditioning unit to enable smoke to escape, reported IE on February 10.
"Authorities are investigating the cause of the incident. The Tata group will fully cooperate in the investigations,” according to a statement issued by the group and published in MM. Hindustan Times (HT) on February 11 reported that the group is considering a compensation package for families of the victims which could be in the region of Rs 50-80 lakhs.
Tata group historian Russi M. Lala told HT on February 10: "Once Bombay House was built, the Tatas had everything in one place. The administration, the legal and information divisions were working under one roof.” After the fire most Tata companies that conducted press conferences in the auditorium in the basement of Bombay House will now have their meets at the Taj Group of Hotels. "Nothing of this seriousness ever happened in the past at Bombay House,” Lala noted.