Mumbai Police Commissioner D.D. Padsalgikar on Monday felicitated police constable Sudarshan Shinde, who saved the lives of nine patrons at 1 Above pub at Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel, where a massive fire claimed 14 lives on December 29.
An officer attached with Worli police, Mr. Shinde was among the first to reach the site of the blaze. Mr. Shinde said he was on duty close to Kamala Mills when he received a call informing him about the fire.
Mr. Shinde said, “I first waited for the fire brigade to reach the spot. I saw many patrons signalling their location by turning on the torch on their cell phones. As soon as the fire brigade arrived at the scene, I ran up to the pub along with the fire brigade officers.”
Mr. Shinde said that when they reached the rooftop pub, located on the fourth floor of Trade House, they found the door to the terrace locked. The fire officers broke down the door and then we rushed inside.
Mr Shinde said, “Soon two more constables from Worli police station joined us. While the fire personnel began dousing the flames, my colleagues and I tried saving the lives of as many patrons as we could.”
Mr. Shinde said that he did not count the number of people he had helped escape the flames. He said he carried the patrons on his shoulders and arranged for stretchers for the injured to be moved to hospitals.
Mr. Shinde said, “We were racing against time to rescue the patrons. We did not even realise when the sun came up. Worli police and N.M. Joshi Marg police sent vehicles to ferry the the injured to hospital. We were able to save so many lives only because of the teamwork of the police officers and the fire brigade personnel.”
