BMC threatens to cut water supply of 170 weak buildings

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has threatened to sever water connection of 170 buildings, identified as “extremely dangerous” if they do not evacuate the premises before April 30. The water connection of 152 buildings has already been discontinued.

As a part of its pre-monsoon preparedness, the civic body has announced 812 buildings across the city as “extremely dangerous”, falling in the C1 category. Of these, 131 are municipal buildings, 88 government, and 593 private buildings.

Of the 812 C1 category buildings, BMC has till now demolished 186 (43 municipal, 25 government, and 118 private), and evacuated 128 buildings (19 municipal, 30 government, and 79 private). Regarding the remaining buildings, the civic body as precautionary measure has sent eviction notices, asking residents to vacate before the rains arrive. Notices have been sent under section 354 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) Act, 1888, asking residents to vacate the premises within seven days.

“Of the 128 buildings that have been evacuated, residents of 14 buildings have obtained a stay from the court. Hence, these buildings cannot be demolished as of now,” said a senior civic official. He added that many a time, residents moved court after receiving eviction notices. One hundred and forty five such cases were in court and 21 pending with residents’ internal committees, he said.

As per civic data, the largest number of dilapidated buildings is in Kurla, followed by areas such as Dadar, Andheri, Parel, Worli, Borivali, Ghatkopar, and Bhandup.

Every year ahead of the monsoon, BMC prepares a list of dangerous buildings. Not all such buildings need to be vacated. Buildings are categorised as C1, C2 and C3. The C1 category implies that the building is very dangerous and needs to be vacated immediately.