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By:

Prithvi Asthana

20 August 2025 at 5:20:30 pm

Employee says the fire alarm did not go off

Many officials could not use fire extinguishers Mumbai: In a tragic incident a large fire broke out in the basement of Aaykar Bhavan, the Income Tax office located on Maharshi Karve Road at Churchgate in Mumbai on Monday. According to the sources, the fire broke out at 1:30 pm, but the Mumbai Fire Brigade received the initial call at 2:01 pm and officially declared it as Level-I fire around 2:15 pm. No casualties were reported in the incident and all the employees were rescued from the...

Employee says the fire alarm did not go off

Many officials could not use fire extinguishers Mumbai: In a tragic incident a large fire broke out in the basement of Aaykar Bhavan, the Income Tax office located on Maharshi Karve Road at Churchgate in Mumbai on Monday. According to the sources, the fire broke out at 1:30 pm, but the Mumbai Fire Brigade received the initial call at 2:01 pm and officially declared it as Level-I fire around 2:15 pm. No casualties were reported in the incident and all the employees were rescued from the building. As the building has a centralised air conditioning system and all the windows were closed the smoke from the fire spread rapidly throughout the building. The thick smoke also spread to the surrounding areas pf the building. Around 23 vehicles of the Mumbai Fire Brigade (MFB) were engaged under the intense operation to extinguish the fire from different gates at the building. Backup ambulances police officials, and the BEST staff, were also seen at the site. The MFB deployed a DFO, ADFO, three Senior Station Officers and two Station Officers, along with three fire engines, one CFF, three jet units, one AWTT, one MWT, one WQRV, one TTL and one ALP. Specialised equipment including aerial ladder platform was deployed to evacuate people from the upper floors. Two people, a male and a female were rescued from the Guest House at the seventh floor of the building. Firefighters were successful in rescuing the staff on the lower floors as well. According to an employee, who requested anonymity said, “The fire broke out at 1:30 pm when the staff was having lunch, but the fire alarms did not go off.” “We were not allowed to exit from the main gate,” he added. The employee said, “The fire was confined to the basement and the smoke went up to all the floors of building.” Asked about the loss, the employee said, “As the fire broke out in the godown no person was injured. But the records kept in godown that are mostly old records have been burnt.” When asked about the fire drill protocol, the employee said, “The office staff did not know how to use the extinguishers, a possible reason why the fire’s intensity kept increasing.” Officials did not confirm the cause of the fire and or damage caused in the basement area. The Aaykar Bhavan, Income Tax office is multi-storey government building that serves as a workplace for a large number of Income Tax officials.

FDA’s notice to SRK, Devgn, Tiger

Mumbai: Rattling Bollywood, the Maharashtra Food & Drugs Authority (FDA) has shot off notices to mega-star Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff for allegedly promoting a banned product through surrogate advertising in the name Vimal Elaichi.


The notice has been issued by the FDA Assistant Commissioner (Food) N. T. Mujawar for Greate Mumbai Division and sought the stars’ written response along with supporting documents, either in person or through an authorised representative, within 15 days.


The FDA has listed eight points for prompt compliance by the actor, including one asking them to “immediately discontinue your participation in and endorsement of VIMAL Pan Masala/Elaichi advertisement,” to yank off the advertisement and promotional content from their social media handles, and not provide “any further cooperation or assistance in the broadcasting, publication, dissemination or promotion of the said advertisement in any form.”


The FDA warned: “The Authority is further empowered to prohibit the endorser of a false or misleading advertisement from making endorsement of any product or service for a period which may extend to one year, and for every subsequent contravention, up to three years.”


Additionally, Khan, Devgn and Shroff have been directed to furnish copies and details of their agreements or endorsement contracts, campaigns brief, product information, payment or endorsement arrangement, and details of the concerned advertising agency and brand owner, along with details of the due diligence undertaken by them and their agency prior to participating in the advertisement.


The FDA has demanded particulars of all television channels, digital and social media platforms and other media on which the advertisement has been broadcast, published or disseminated with their participation, together with the period of such broadcast or dissemination, and for disclosure of any material connection between themselves and the advertiser or brand owner as contemplated under the CCPA Guidelines, 2022.


“Furnish documentary evidence establishing whether VIMAL Elaichi is an independent product actually available for sale in the market, or whether the same constitutes a surrogate or brand extension communication intended to promote VIMAL Pan Masala/tobacco related products,” says the notice.


The star trio has been asked to furnish their written explanations as to “why legal action should not be initiated” against them for the prima facie violations of various provisions of the laws, as such advertisements may amount to “indirect or surrogate” promotion of prohibited pan masala and tobacco-related products.


War on tobacco
The FDA action came after the Maharashtra Food Safety Commissioner under the Food Safety and Standards Act July 13 order imposing a one-year ban on certain specified products containing tobacco, nicotine and areca-nut.

Action will be taken against the manufacture, storage, transport, distribution and sale of prohibited pan masala products in Maharashtra, and copies of the star notices have been sent to the FSSAI and Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA).

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