Illegal Nalasopara school's wall collapses on family

Five members of a family including three children are in critical condition after they were crushed under the 12-ft wall of an illegally constructed school at Nalasopara which collapsed during heavy rains on Thursday. The police are yet to register a case in the matter.

The injured were rushed to Umrao Hospital at Mira road and Cardinal Gracias Hospital in Vasai with severe head wounds and multiple fractures after being rescued from the debris late at night. Some have been operated upon and are under observation.

The compound wall of Shirdi Nagar's BN Memorial High School, collapsed on the neighbouring Om Shanti Dham chawl, injuring Jagdish Mishra, 40, his wife Archana, 35, and their children Ankit, 10, Varsha, 5, and Anshu, 5.

The Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation said it was unaware of the illegal construction and said the school was built without taking the requisite permissions. The corporation's assistant commissioner, Neelam Nijhai, visited the spot on Friday. "The school was built illegally. We will give them a notice and slap a case under sections of the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act. The structure will be demolished," she told dna.

Though no case has been registered by the Nalasopara police, Ravindra Badguzar, senior inspector, said, "We have given a letter to the school and the civic body asking them to submit their documents. We are yet to take statements of the victims and will soon register a case of negligence and book whoever is responsible."

"If officials of the civic body is found guilty in the matter, we will book them too. We are investigating further," added inspector Badguzar.