IN November 2008, 10 armed men held Mumbai to ransom for three days but on Thursday all it took was a short circuit to paralyse the seat of the Maharashtra government.

The fire brigade took 20 minutes to respond to calls and another precious 15 minutes or more to start operations.

By then the blaze caught on, aided no doubt by the building’s shoddy electric wiring and huge quantities of paper.

There was no water from hydrants or enough pressure in them for a while to get going. The exclusive space nearby reserved for the movement of emergency vehicles was jammed with parked cars and fire tenders could not make their way close to the seven-storied building fast enough. It took 12 hours to bring the flames under control and five people suffocated to death. Post 26/11, the specially created elite Force One and Quick Response Teams were on stand by below while the parapets of the building were filling up with people seeking an escape route.

Nearly four years ago, Mumbai’s residents watched helplessly as the Taj hotel burnt all night and many remembered those scenes as the dense smoke from the secretariat fanned out into the sunset. The hysteria over disaster management reached fever pitch after that terror strike but lost steam soon after.

The State government seems to have ignored these risks. On Thursday, senior Ministers and government officials for the first time came face to face with a harsh reality that many Mumbaikars are confronted with after a fire. That this should happen in the highest office of the State government shows a criminal disregard for the law by the enforcers themselves.