Mumbai: Underground chamber found again, this time at JJ Hospital

MUMBAI: A 12-metre-long underground chamber, which is at least 132 years old, has been discovered at JJ Hospital. It has stone walls and brick columns, and was found below the College of Nursing - earlier a women and children's hospital.
The finding was made by Dr Arun Rathod, a resident medical officer, while he was inspecting a leakage.

Stories about underground tunnels and chambers at JJ have been discussed and passed down through the generations. "But this is the first time we have evidence," said Dr Rathod, who stumbled upon the chamber through a tiny opening in the right corner of the building (earlier known as Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit Hospital), construction of which was completed in 1892, leading to speculation that the underground structure was built at the time.

Accompanied by JJ and PWD staff, Dr Rathod removed a wooden door and detached an iron grill guarding the opening. Around 4pm on Wednesday, he crawled inside to discover a massive wall. "We trained the flashlight in what looked like a basement and saw a long passage with walls and pillars built in stone and brick," he said.
He estimated the chamber's length and breadth to be 40 ft (12 metres) each, and height 4-4.5 ft (1.2-1.4 metres), which is not adequate for an adult human to stand erect.

No clear exits were found as the ends were blocked. JJ dean Dr Pallavi Saple said there are theories about the chamber's origin and purpose, but no certain answers. "We have informed the collector and the archaeological department to explore further," she said. "Some say it could be a bomb shelter."
As word spread, patients, relatives, hospital staffers and locals thronged the hospital on Friday to capture photos and videos. As it was debated whether the structure was a chamber or a tunnel, hospital insiders pointed out that the chamber could be a tunnel connecting the building with another (Bai Motli Bai building) which stands right behind and used to house a ward for women in labour. "My mother, who has worked in JJ all her life, spoke of tunnels to transfer mothers and babies during emergencies," said grade-IV staffer Leela Vora, who was born in JJ in 1964.
"Most of the old British buildings - forts and government buildings that came up after the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny- had underground tunnels built as escape routes out of fear of an uprising or being surrounded by natives," said police historian Deepak Rao. The existence of secret passages and routes in Mumbai - a port city - has been a well-known fact but no one ever archived it, "because information on this would not fall into the public domain of archives and remain naval secrets". Rao also believes in the possibility of bunkers around seaside forts as escape sites during emergencies.