Mumbai: In the afternoon on Friday, around 45 residents of Savera Apartments were evacuated as the building had tilted. Savera Apartments is nearly 30 years’ old and had been declared dangerous by the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). According to residents, the building had tilted for the past 10 years however it became apparent when a structure in front of it was demolished. Residents claimed that TMC officials timed the move such that politicians would not interfere as the election code had kicked in.
A resident, Bhagyashree Nerurkar (24), said, “We were told the building was dangerous only six months ago but the notice did not say that our homes would be sealed. We have been paying taxes, we have electricity meters and voting cards. Our rights as citizens have been infringed upon.”
Amrish Patel (27), whose father owns and runs a wholesale onion store on the ground floor of the building, said, “The building was always tilted. Now suddenly, TMC is making so much noise about it. If it was an issue, they should have done something about it at that time itself.”
Kaveri Shinde (30) who lives with her husband Amit in Savera said that TMC was taking advantage of the code of conduct and neither elected or opposing representatives would come forward for help. “No politician is picking up our calls. They are not bothered. TMC knows that they cannot make any public statements and after the election, whoever comes to power will not bother about us.”
Meanwhile, assistant municipal commissioner (AMC), Naupada ward committee, Madan Sonde, said, “The residents were given a lot of time before sealing the building. we sent them notice that the building had tilted and was endangering not only their lives but also those of others.” Asked if the building had tilted long ago as per the residents’ claim, he said, We have to go back to our records and check.”
After the Lucky compound collapse in Thane in 2013 in which mre than 70 people lost their lives, TMC wanted to carry out demolition of all dilapidated buildings.
