Following the landslide incidents on Sunday, which claimed 29 lives of slumdwellers in Mahul and Vikhroli, the BMC has instructed the local ward offices to carry out ground-level inspection of the slum areas that are situated in landslide prone zones.
According senior civic officials, approximately 21,000 such slums are located in Ghatkopar, Chembur, Kurla and Antop Hill. The officials said all these slums are built on slopes that are prone to landslides. Most of these are located between Dahisar and Andheri in the western suburbs and Ghatkopar and Mulund in the eastern suburbs. “Most huts and slum areas are built on land that belong to agencies of the state and central government and not the BMC. Even the slums in Vikhroli and Mahul, where the incident took place were set up on government land,” said additional civc commissioner Suresh Kakani. “We have instructed our local ward officers to visit these places and evacuate those living along these risky slopes. Every year, we conduct a survey of these slums and share a report with the government agencies,” said Kakani. “The BMC had earlier made arrangements of constructing a wall below the slopes in Mankhurd, Govandi and Cheeta Camp. But the slumdwellers were did not move,” he said.
Meanwhile, the BMC, on Monday, relocated 38 families living in Bharat Nagar to a building that was built for project affected families.
