Evacuation of residents from ‘dangerous’ Thane bldgs begins

Thane: Residents of all buildings classified as 'very dangerous' in Maharashtra's Thane city are being evacuated in view of the current monsoon season and the process would be completed in a couple of days, civic commissioner Vipin Sharma said on Sunday.

As many as 79 buildings in the city are under the C1 category (which means very dangerous and need to be vacated immediately), while 123 buildings fall under the C2 category, Sharma told reporters.

The C2A buildings are those that can be structurally repaired after which residents can reoccupy it, while C2B are those that can be repaired without residents having to evacuate it. Besides, the buildings under C3 category are those that require minor repairs.

"The buildings classified as C1 are being vacated and the entire process would be completed within a day or two. The monsoon has already set in, and we cannot take another risk as we are already fighting a battle against COVID-19," Sharma told reporters.

Some 150 families were yet to be shifted out of these buildings, he said, adding that the work will be completed at the earliest.

Each ward committee has published a list of the dangerous buildings falling under its jurisdiction, he said.

In the previous years, there have been incidents of building collapse in the city during the rainy season.

Sharma also said that the budget committed for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has gone up in view of the rising number of cases in Thane.

Under these circumstances, the civic body's priority is to tackle the coronavirus crisis and pay salaries to its employees on time, he added.