25 die as building collapses in Mumbai's Bhendi Bazar

Mumbai: The spate of building collapses continues in Mumbai this monsoon, as a 117-year old six-storey building in Bhendi Bazaar collapsed on Thursday morning, killing 25 people and leaving 37 injured.

Five to six persons are still feared to be trapped under the debris as rescue operations continued till late night.

The Hussaini building, which is located on Pakmodia Street in south Mumbai, came down like a pack of cards at 8.30 in the morning, trapping residents under the rubble. Besides the families who resided there, the building also housed a sweet shop, a food kitchen and a play school on the ground floor.

According to civic officials, the building, which was constructed before 1940, was a grade A cessed building. It had been declared dangerous by Mhada and notices were issued to residents to vacate the building way back in 2011.

The building was included in the cluster redevelopment project to be undertaken by the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT), and accordingly, tenants were offered eligibility certificates. The demolition permission was also issued in May 2016. However, out of the 12 families, only seven decided to shift to the transit camp, while the remaining decided to stay put.

The Bhendi Bazaar cluster development is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is personally monitoring it. Around 180 buildings in surrounding areas will be redeveloped under the project.

The disaster management teams, including the BMC, the police and Mhada started the rescue work. The National Disaster Relief Force (NDRM) was also pressed into the operation. The surrounding buildings were evacuated as a precautionary measure. As the area is very congested, there were some difficulties, which came up in the rescue works.

Due to fire in the debris, caused from the hotel kitchen on the ground floor, the entire area was covered with smoke, which also posed a hindrance in rescue work and may have suffocated victims trapped, said fire officials. Five firemen and one NDRF man received injuries in the line of duty.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who visited the accident spot, has ordered a detailed inquiry into the mishap by the additional chief secretary (housing). “Strict action will be taken against those who are found negligent,” he said. He has also announced an aid of  'five lakh to the kin of the deceased. The state government will bear the cost of treatment of injured, Mr Fadnavis added.

According to local residents, the death toll could have been higher had the collapse taken place an hour later. “There was a playschool in the ground floor which starts at 9.30 am. Had the collapsed happened after it started, the casualties would have been very high,” said local resident Ammar Razvi.

Residents have demanded action against Mhada and SBUT for delay in the redevelopment. “It is MHADA and SBUT, which are responsible for the collapse. We asked Mhada several times to evict the people from the building, but they turned a deaf ear to our demands. Mhada officials also did not visit or inspect the building before the monsoons,” said resident Shoeb Shaikh.

The police have yet to register any offence in this case. Manoj Kumar Sharma, deputy commissioner of police zone 1 said, “Right now, only an Accidental Death Report (ADR) has been registered. The first priority is to rescue the occupants of the building and the case will be registered later.” He added, “We are yet to check the official documents of the building and only then will the case be registered against the party whose negligence caused the collapsed,” he added.