Mumbai wall cave-in: BMC withholds future permissions to Dosti Realty

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), in a fresh order issued on Wednesday, withheld all construction permissions given to Dosti Realty Limited, until buildings on its adjoining plot in Wadala that saw a landslide on Monday morning become structurally sound. The order was in addition to the stop-work notice issued to the builder on Monday evening.

The landslide at Dosti’s construction site caused the compound wall of the neighbouring Lloyd Estate to collapse, taking six cars along. Around 3.20pm on Tuesday, loose soil began to slip into the gorge, spreading fear of another landslide in the adjacent Dosti Blossoms. Panicking after the incidents, residents of Lloyd Estate and adjoining Dosti Blossoms protested outside the building proposals department on Wednesday, demanding the construction at the site be stopped and all existing permissions revoked.

While the existing nod can’t be revoked, taking their concerns into consideration, the notice was issued around 2pm. It read: “All further permissions are kept on hold till the adjoining buildings are restored to structurally safer proportions.”

“The Dosti building has been constructed upto the plinth level. The developer recently applied for permissions for the remaining construction. We have withheld all approvals, in addition to the stop-work notices issued on Monday,” said an official from the building proposals department, adding, “Not just Lloyd Estate, all buildings in the vicinity have complaints against the construction. The builder will have to take safety measures.”

Despite repeated attempts, Dosti Realty Limited was unavailable for comment. “We are abiding by all rules and the court order,” Kartik Goradia, one of the partners of Dosti Realty told this correspondent at the site.

The civic body has also directed the builder to carry out repairs at Dosti Blossoms, in addition to the landslide site at Lloyd Estate.

Residents of Dosti Blossoms had a different version. “No decision has been taken on the repairs in our building,” said Rahul Daga, a resident of Dosti Blossoms. “Just like Lloyd Estate, we have been writing to the BMC, on the basis of a report by independent structural auditor Nitin Kamble, that pointed out that Dosti Realty’s construction was weakening the ground beneath Lloyd Estate and Dosti Blossoms.”

Rajya Sabha MP Bhalachandra Mungekar, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam, and Congress corporator Sufiyan Niyaz Vanu were also present during the protest. While Mungekar demanded whoever is responsible for the incident be punished, Nirupam said, “This talks of corruption at a higher level. The builder must be punished.” Vanu demanded a copy of the soil-testing survey submitted by the builder’s structural engineer to the BMC. “We will have to check. In the absence of the survey, the building can’t be planned,” said the official quoted above.