That sinking feeling: Arterial road caves in

THANE: A nearly 60-feet-long footpath and arterial road stretch caved in at Ramchandra Nagar late on Friday with the sinking road taking down two cars and an auto rickshaw, which were subsequently pulled out using a crane.
No human injuries or casualties were reported as the incident occurred at midnight when the usually busy road was empty. Locals and corporators blamed the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for the incident as their repeated complaints about the on-going excavation work at the adjoining under-construction site of a high-rise and the damage it has created to the road was overlooked.
Santosh Kadam of the regional disaster management cell said that the incident occurred at around 11:30pm. The soil underneath the footpath on the Kamgaar hospital road suddenly started slipping in the adjoining compound. The road is located at a height of nearly 30 feet from the rest of the structures. As it was late in the night there were a few pedestrians on the stretch, else it could have led to casualties, he said.
Residents said they heard a huge thud and were shocked to see the entire footpath stretch caved in by nearly 25 feet within minutes along with the vehicles. “A few residents had noticed the part slowly sinking since Friday afternoon and were asking residents to not park their vehicles there. We were discussing the incident and were shocked to know about it. I shudder to think of the consequences if the incident had happened during peak hours when there is a lot of pedestrian movement at that stretch,” said a resident. Another resident blamed a recently completed pipeline laying work in the area and suspected the contractor must have disturbed the soil and the building construction work would have added to it resulting in the incident. Shiv Sena corporator Santosh Vadavle claimed that he had alerted the local ward office about the same but there was no action. “I had approached the public works department about the part caving in recently but they seem to have ignored it. It clearly looks like the fault of the builder who may have scooped out excess soil indirectly affecting the stability of the road and footpath,” he said.
Assistant municipal commissioner Zunzar Pardeshi and city engineer Ravindra Khadtale remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts. A senior civic official said initial investigations revealed the ongoing piling work for an upcoming residential tower in the area was at fault but added that a final report is awaited before action.