After fire on Ranbir’s set, Federation of Western India Cine Employees writes to authorities

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has taken serious note of the fire on the set of Luv Ranjan’s untitled film starring Ranbir Kapoor, which killed one.

A letter addressed to the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister and the Chief Fire Officer of Maharashtra states in no uncertain terms, that fire hazards on film sets must be looked into immediately.

The letter reads, “We would like to draw your kind attention to the numerous correspondences made by us to all the above authorities apprising them of the pathetic working conditions in the Film Industry due to which there is always huge risk of lives for our members working and that even after our multiple requests to get these shooting locations visited by the concerned officers to have vigilant checks upon proper statutory compliances by the concerned studio owners, production houses, producers before commencement of their projects, none of the authorities have taken due cognizance of our letters and have not shown any concern towards our requests.” The letter then addresses the latest fire mishap. “This gross negligence has led to another big hazardous fire mishap at the Chitrakoot ground, Andheri wherein two sets were completely burnt incurring monetary losses in a verge of Crore and causing a life of 32 year old man. It is indeed matter of serious concern that the shootings are carried out in such locations wherein no structural audits, Fire audits are done on regular intervals and shootings are carried out without proper legal permissions as per the law.”

The letter draws attention to the high fire risks on film sets in Mumbai. “Such incidents are highly regretted and our members are under high risk and trauma to work under given circumstances which may lead to loss of precious lives. You must be well aware that thousands of people are working at a time for a project. Around 5-10 projects are commenced at a time at such large locations risking the lives of nearing lakh of workers at a time. Structural Audits and Fire Audits are mandatorily to be done at regular intervals and fire safety gadgets should also be checked and displayed at prominent locations to avoid such hazardous incidents. None of these basic regularities are followed neither by the studio owners of the producers and production houses. There is always tremendous pressure and risk to the workers working in such hazardous conditions.”

The FWICE requests for a permanent team to monitor fire safety on film sets. “We hereby once again request you to kindly please appoint a team of your expert personnel to have regular checks upon the statutory compliances at all the shooting locations in and outside the limit of Mumbai and ensure that these safety and security compliances are followed by the studio owners, producers and production houses strictly to avoid recurrence of such incidents in the Film Industry.”