MMRC claims metro work not affecting Siddharth College building structure

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) claimed that it is taking all precautions to ensure the piling work outside Siddharth College due to Metro 3 work, does not affect the building structure in any way.

But the college on Thursday said the vibrations had caused new cracks to appear in the base of the building. Following a signature campaign by the college, the MMRC had clarified that cracks in the structure being claimed by the college were there even before Metro work began and that they were monitoring the cracks to see if they are widening due to the piling work.

Following the college’s signature campaign on October 1, MMRC managing director Ashwini Bhide had issued a detailed clarification stating that MMRC had inspected and mapped the cracks and abnormalities in the building prior to commencing work of the underground metro outside the college.

Ms Bhide also claimed that the vibrations were one-fourth of the permissible limit around heritage and weak structures.

Lastly, crack-monitoring meters had been installed in the building’s basement to ensure that the existing cracks do not widen, she said.

“The MMRC officials assured us that they would be undertaking repairs of the cracks and do whatever was needed to avoid further damage to the basement,” said Mr Umaji Mhaske, Siddhart College principal

Ms Bhide’s assured and said that their contractors have been instructed to coordinatewith the college authorities so that these aspects, along with others can also be addressed.”