BMC special cell to monitor weak structures in city

Mumbai: In the backdrop of growing number of dilapidated buildings in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to form a special cell, which along with maintaining records of these decrepit structures, will also conduct surprise checks on them.

The decision was taken following the collapse of Sai Siddhi building at Ghatkopar in July.

The panel, probing the incident, had proposed to set up a special cell to oversee work of dilapidated buildings in the city.

“There is a very high rate of redevelopment in the suburbs and hence every year there will be disputes over more than 100 buildings on whether to declare them dilapidated. Hence a separate cell or division under a senior officer should be established to deal with all cases of dilapidated buildings and issues related to the same,” said the report.

In Mumbai, there are nearly 1.60 lakh properties, which are above 30-year-old and need to be audited for their structural stability.

The BMC has decided to issue notices to these structures asking them to carry out a structural audit at the earliest.

In the backdrop of Bhendi Bazar building collapse a few months ago, the civic body has prepared a list of 1,59,834 properties in the city to assess their structural stability.

Of them, K-East ward has 11033, consisting of eastern areas of Andheri and Jogeshwari, has the maximum number of 30-year old structures.

It is followed by P-North (Goregaon) with 10,671 structures and H-West (Bandra, Khar) ward with 10,661 structures.

“In coming years, the issue of dilapidated structures in the city is likely to become more serious as their number is going to increase. In a bid to address their problems, a separate cell will be formed within two months. The cell will ensure that the civic body must have complete information on dilapidated buildings and how many buildings will require a structural audit in the near future,” said a senior civic official.