19 people have died and 14 were injured in a three-storey building collapse in Kurla on Monday night. The building is situated near Kurla depot and the building name is Naiknagar co-op.hsg. The D wing of the building has collapsed and the remaining part of the building has tilted and it is in a position to collapse at any time. The deceased and Injured were taken to civic-run Rajawadi hospital and Sion Lokmanya Tilak hospital. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has announced Rs. 5 lakh as compensation to deceased families and free treatment to injured people. This help will be done through the CM relief fund.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakhs each from PMNRF to the next of kin of the deceased and the injured would be given Rs 50,000.
According to eyewitnesses, building collapsed at 11.35 PM in the night. Residents of nearby chawl felt tremors. Chawl residents came out of the house and started running. There was heavy dust in the area and residents thought that an earthquake or cylinder blast must have occurred but after some time they saw a big portion of the building had collapsed.
Suvarna Bansode, an eyewitness said, "I along with my family were inside our house. We heard a big sound and felt tremors, the walls of our house were shaking. We immediately came out of the house and started running. A few minutes later there was thick dust spread everywhere in the area. Some people in the area thought that there could have been a cylinder blast. After the dust settled, residents of Chawl came to know that the building had collapsed."
Mayur Rajguru, another resident of the nearby Jai Jawan Vasahat chawl said, "I had my lunch and was walking outside with a friend. I saw it while the building was collapsing. It came down like cards. huge dust spread over the area. Thereafter, we saw people stuck in the tilted part of the building they were rescued using sarees. people tied sarees and pulled out some residents."
According to Mahadev Shinde, Assistant Commissioner of L ward, "the building was constructed in the year 1975, there were four wings in the building. On June 28, 2013, BMC sent them notice and directed office bearers of the building to undertake major repairs. BMC claimed that despite the notice, repair work had not been done. Even BMC had initiated legal action under section 475 A of BMC act."
BMC officers said that From 2014 to 2015 BMC had issued notice to demolish the building. We had also cut water and electricity. In 2016, residents brought 'M/S Sachdev Associates' a structural auditor's report which was saying the building can be repaired and allowed to stay. After the report, BMC had to restore their electricity and water supply and put the building under C2B category.
BMC stated that they have taken the undertaking from the residents that residents here are staying at their own risk and BMC will not be responsible for any untoward incident.
Iqbal Singh Chahal, BMC Commissioner who visited the spot told the media, " BMC will conduct an inquiry of the incident. We will again check the Structural auditor's report which was saying the building could be repaired. In the case of Private buildings, BMC allows private societies to conduct structural audits through empanelled firms. Otherwise, people make allegations against BMC that we purposely sent them notices."
Shiv-Sena MLA, Sanjay Potnis said, "It has been seen that once BMC sent notices to buildings residents run to courts and bring stay on the demolition of water cut. First of all that should be stopped. Local courts should not give protections to such dangerous buildings."
Nidhi Choudhari, Collector of Mumbai Suburbs told the media, "Building was constructed on Collectors land. In the year 1966 land was given to Naik Nagari society and a building was constructed in the year 1975. BMC had declared this building dilapidated and BMC will take further action."
Names of deceased--
Kishor Prajapati, 20, Sikandar Rajbhar, 21 , Arvind Bharti, 19, Anup Rajbhar, 18 , Anil Yadav, 21,
Shamu Prajapati, 18, Ajinkya Gaikwad, 34, Ajay Pasphor, 28, Lilabai Gaikwad, 60, Ramesh Badia, 50, Prahlad Gaikwad, 65, Guddu Pasphor, 22, Birju Majhi 21, Rahul Majhi 24, Pappu Majhi, 35, Mahesh Majhi 40, Vinod Majhi 19 Unidentified dead body 2.
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