Govind Tekale
Thane District Collector Shrikrushna Panchal said the district administration has decided to ban rocket-style fireworks, with the restriction taking effect the day after Diwali, following fire incidents reported in Thane during the Diwali period. No independently verified written order was located confirming the ban’s scope or terms; as reported, the restriction rests on Panchal’s public statement.
Panchal said 50 people were rescued from the Carlyle building at Raheja Garden in Thane’s Wagle Estate area after a fire broke out during Diwali. He did not state a cause for that fire. The decision to restrict rocket-style fireworks was announced in connection with fire incidents in the district, not as a confirmed finding about what started the Raheja Gardens blaze specifically.
Authorities had not determined the cause of the Raheja Gardens fire at the time these reports were published. Any suggestion that fireworks or rockets caused that particular fire remains unconfirmed pending an official determination.
What is known about the MMR fires
The fire at Raheja Garden’s Carlyle building, a 17-storey residential tower in Wagle Estate, Thane, was reported at around 8:30 pm during Diwali. The blaze reportedly affected the eighth to 10th floors. Fifty residents were rescued, according to Panchal’s statement. No casualties were officially confirmed in connection with this fire, and its cause remains undetermined.
Other incidents during the Diwali period in Thane and Mumbai were reported by NDTV Profit with PTI inputs. At Skyline Epitome in Vidyavihar West, Mumbai, a fire was reported in two connected seventh-floor flats. Five people were rescued from an opposite flat. No injuries were reported, and the origin of the fire was described as under investigation.
In Thane’s Kasarvadavali area, a fire broke out in a seventh-floor corridor at Aravali Hills Society. Four residents sustained minor injuries and two others were rescued. The cause of that fire had not been confirmed in the reporting reviewed.
Additional fires were reported separately in Mumbai’s Dongri and Dadar areas during the same period. The reports did not establish a cause linking those incidents, or the fires above, to firecrackers or rockets.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was reported to have said no casualties had been confirmed in connection with the Raheja Garden fire.
The rocket-style fireworks restriction described by the collector appears to be a precautionary response to fire incidents reported in Thane during Diwali, rather than a statement tying any specific blaze to rocket fireworks. Residents should await a formal district-administration or police notification for its full scope and enforcement details.
Of the incidents reported, the cause of the Skyline Epitome fire was described as under investigation, while the causes of the fires at Raheja Garden and Aravali Hills Society had not been confirmed in the reporting reviewed. Residents should follow local emergency instructions and contact emergency services if they see smoke or fire.
