Mhada says 100-year-old buildings near tracks are safe, CR doesn't think so

MUMBAI: Days after portion of a railway retaining wall collapsed on tracks at Sandhurst Road station, Central Railway has asked Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) to carry out a third-party audit of three adjacent low-slung buildings.

The almost 100-year-old buildings, which have last undergone repairs in 1986, as well as two godowns are located on the bank of the Thane-bound slow line, at a height of 5m. CR's chief public relations officer Sunil Udasi said, "We have asked Mhada to conduct a third-party audit so that if the buildings are found to be unsafe, action can be taken. They are posing a danger to train operations."

However, residents of the buildings claim they have already done a structural audit and submitted a report to the BMC. The report states the buildings are not unsafe.




At a meeting on July 13, Mhada officials had maintained a similar view and said the building is safe. However, the railways refused to subscribe to the view and the same day, CR's senior divisional engineer (coordination) Ashutosh Gupta wrote to Mhada: "Building no. 27D, 27E and 27F and two godowns are existing near the down line side of Sandhurst Road station on the bank... Due to construction of these structures, the ground is slipping and resulting in failure of wall adjacent to the track... In case of heavy rain and landslide, there is imminent danger of these buildings collapsing over tracks."




Mhada's Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board chief officer DK Jagdale said, "We feel the building is safe but we will get the safety assessed as suggested by the railways."

Residents blamed the railway authorities for poor maintenance of the retaining wall. A local, Dr Dipak Hadawle, said, "We have been following up with the railways to strengthen the wall, but they have ignored the request. The wall is dilapidated. It collapsed on July 9 as wild trees have grown out of it and rodents have damaged it."

Another resident said that portions of the same wall have collapsed twice before- first time in August 1, 2010, and again on July 21, 2014. "Earlier, there were four buidlings near the tracks. But after the 2014 collapse, the railways threatened to stop operations if one of the buildings was not demolished. So residents were shifted to Sewri and a building was unnecessarily demolished. It took two months to demolish the building, which proves there was nothing wrong with it. It is the wall which is poorly maintained," he added.

Udasi said, "We may have to dig deep to reach the foundation of the wall and then the building will start slipping."

Local MLA Amin Patel said a meeting of Mhada, BMC and railways' officials has been called on Monday. "The authorities want to demolish the buildings and shift the tenants. I will not allow that," he said.