A fact-finding report on the Malad wall collapse by independent activists and civil society members has called the tragedy completely avoidable. The report, released on Wednesday, blames the BMC for flawed design of the wall, the forest department for failing to rehabilitate the people for almost 20 years, and the response by the fire brigade and disaster management cell. This report will be submitted to the State government shortly.
As residents of Pimpripada and Ambedkar Nagar — where the wall of Malad reservoir breached and destroyed 100-150 houses on the night of July 1, leading to the loss of 29 lives so far — try to build their lives again, several reputed organisations and individuals joined hands to compile a report on the incident based on their experience at the site, interviews with the affected families there and in the hospital. They also relied on news, documents and court judgements.
Few affected residents of the two areas, who were also present at the release of the report, spoke to the media seeking rehabilitation.
The report, divided into five parts — background, events on the night of incident, aftermath, causes, and recommendations — calls out the fire brigade for reaching the site hours late. Residents gave conflicting accounts about when the fire brigade and ambulances arrived but agreed that they reached late. Many injured reached the hospital by themselves, using whatever mode of transport they could find.
“Many critically injured were forced to turn to unwilling autos and were rejected by private hospitals before receiving admission in public hospitals, where they were declared dead,” the report states.
The report has termed the wall collapse a “State-induced disaster”. It says, “ Despite the precarious condition of the tenements, there was no assessment of the risk of rainfall-induced events on the settlement nor were any measures undertaken to alleviate the risk. Instead, a poorly designed wall was built between the settlement and the reservoir plot without understanding the site topography and natural drainage systems, endangering the settlement even more.”
It reads, “..it is the negligence and inaction by the Forest department and State government that have failed to rehabilitate. The State government is actually in contempt of the orders of the court… To call such an event a natural disaster is to overlook all formulative circumstances and nature of response that makes it a disaster. It is also a standard tactic adopted by authorities to deflect attention from the failures of social policy…”.
As reported in the media, the report also states that for the injured, the fear of not having a home once discharged from hospital was palpable. The recovery and rebuilding of lives outside the hospital still remains a source of anguish for the affected residents, it states.
Among residents of Pimpripada and Ambedkar Nagar, many also told interviewers that they were staying back on the site of destruction amidst continuing downpour due to fear of vandalism of what remains of their belongings despite them being at risk of contracting water-borne and vector-borne diseases.
The report comes down heavily on BMC for the wall’s poor construction. “The difference between a retaining wall and a compound wall is that the latter is not designed to resist lateral pressure of soil when the ground level is changed on on different sides of the wall. The wall was poorly designed — did not have any outlets or holes to allow surface runoff — which would have released the pressure of water,” it states.
Could have been averted
The disaster could have been entirely averted if not for the gross delay in rehabilitation on the part of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the report points out. Further, the collapse of the wall is a direct consequence of its construction, not taking into account the topography of the site and its poor design in general.
The report has been put together by experts and activists including Bilal Khan of Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan; Brinelle D’Souza, activist at Peoples Union of Civil Libetries; Hussain Indorewala, academic and urban researcher at Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture; Lara Jesani, lawyer at PUCL; members of Pani Haq Samiti, and students of various colleges. The signatories have demanded immediate rehabilitation of the people to nearby available tenements in Kandivali, and not in Mahul.
“I refuse to believe engineers didn’t have the knowledge to build this wall. These mistakes are done deliberately. The administration’s response to this disaster was inhuman. At least six people died due to delayed response,” alleged Sitaram Shelar of Pani Haq Samiti.
“Some people don’t want to leave the site of the tragedy since they are stressed about losing their homes. People are suffering from stress and anxiety. Plus you don’t want to let go of your near ones for fear of something happening again. There is also a sense of fatigue,” Ms. D’Souza said.
The activists have also demanded criminal action against those responsible.