A day after six people died and two were injured in a building collapse at Kamathipura, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) evacuated buildings around it and surveyed 500 constructions in the area to check for structural strength.
Officials said this wasn’t a structural audit but a visual inspection to check if the buildings are stable. The survey is being carried out on 14th Lane, 13th Lane, Manaji Rajuji Road and RS Nimkar Marg. Sanjay Jadhav, executive engineer, MHADA said the building collapse was an accident and the agency is conducting an inquiry.
Access to the site of the collapse was completely cut off on Sunday as hundreds of curious onlookers thronged the area to try and catch a glimpse. Many locals citied the roadwork being carried out by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the reason for the collapse. “The whole building would vibrate when they used the jackhammer to dig the road,” said Asif Ansari, who has worked in Kamathipura all his life and owns a laundry on RS Nimkar Marg. His laundry is on the dug-up side of the street and overlooks a small pile of mud and rubble mixed with sewage.
“It used to feel like an earthquake when they used the jackhammer,” Mohartam Ali, who lives in the adjoining building and has been asked to vacate it, said.
Mr Jadhav said they have asked the BMC to be careful while digging roads. “We have asked residents of the adjoining building to vacate. We will first prop up the structure and only then allow them to enter and take their belongings. The decision to repair or demolish these buildings will be taken after the propping work is completed,” he added.
Residents of adjoining buildings complained they have been left to fend for themselves. “Some have gone to their relatives or friends’ homes, but many like me are biding our time in and around the locality and waiting for them to allow us to go back home,” said Ali, sitting in a small shelter built by the civic body.
While locals said some illegal construction was underway in the building that collapsed, known as Patthar Building, MHADA officials denied the allegtation.
“There was no illegal work going on. There is a work order which has been based on a plan made by an architect. The funding for the construction has come from MP and MLA funds,” said Mr Jadhav.
The mood on 13th Lane was gloomy. The funeral procession of victim Angad Chaube had just set out in the afternoon. Mr Chaube had owned a paan shop in Patthar Building and is the only victim whose body has been claimed from JJ Hospital. “Everyone used to call him Panditji,” said Shekhar Kamble, who has lived on 13th Lane all his life and runs a small bidi shop in the same lane.
“He (Chaube) has been here for decades. When I was young I had even seen his father,” Kamble said, adding after such an event everyone gets apprehensive about their buildings. “Of course there is fear. I worry if I should set up shop here and stay on,” he said, “But then, where else can I go?”
Locals said illegal construction was underway in the
building, and blamed BMC’s road work
