Mumbai Fire Brigade rescued six people from the terrace and third floor of the building. (Representational)A SENIOR citizen died when a portion of a building collapsed in Dongri on Wednesday morning. According to the disaster management cell, the back portion of the A wing of the four-storey Raza Chambers collapsed at 7 am on Wednesday.
The deceased was identified as Mumtaz Sudhanwala (65) and at the time of the incident she was alone in her house on the third floor. The building has two wings and was a MHADA cess property. Officials said MHADA gave its no-objection certificate (NOC) to the landlord for redevelopment.
According to local residents, the building is more than five decades old and, on Tuesday after it developed cracks, most of the tenants vacated the premises. Only Sudhanwala did not vacate since she did not have any relatives.
“On Tuesday, residents vacated the building after noticing cracks in the structure. Sudhanwala, however, chose to stay back as she does not have any relatives who live nearby. She was trapped under debris and could be removed only in the afternoon. We are arranging for her last rites to be conducted,” said Afzal Dawdani, a local resident from Dongri.
Mumbai Fire Brigade rescued six people from the terrace and third floor of the building.
According to MHADA, which looks after cessed buildings of the city, the building was not dilapidated and a portion collapsed due to some construction activity that took place in the last three days.
Arun Dongare, Chief Officer, Repair Board of MHADA, said, “We are investigating the matter as there was a complaint regarding construction activity on the ground floor of a restaurant and bar. Following this, instructions have been given to officials to record the statement of the restaurant owner. If it is found that the construction activity was the main reason behind the collapse, we will take action.”
Last week, two people were killed in a building collapse at Nagpada.