The collapse of a residential building on Tuesday in the congested Dongri area has once again put the focus on Mumbai's stressed infrastructure with experts and realtors calling for strict enforcement of safety norms and regular audits to avoid such tragedies in the future. The death toll in the collapse of four-storeyed Kesarbhai building in the city's Dongri area rose to 14.
Every year, the financial capital sees instances of building collapse, foot overbridge accidents and other life-threatening but preventable incidents. The situation gets aggravated during the monsoon. According to Hindustan Times, the data from the BMC shows there is only one dilapidated building in B ward. The reason other dilapidated buildings do not show up on the BMC’s list of such buildings in the ward is that they are illegal. The B ward area, which is the administrative name for the areas of Dongri, Mohammad Ali Road, Masjid, Bhendi Bazaar, and Pydhonie, is a mesh of old, dilapidated buildings where several illegal structures have mushroomed over the past few decades.
Rais Shaikh, leader of the Samajwadi Party in BMC, who was a resident of the area for around 20 years, told the Hindustan Times, “Over the past few decades, the area has seen haphazard development and redevelopment of many old buildings. These buildings are built without the BMC’s permission under the name of carrying out structural repairs to the original building. It adds weight to the original old structure, and weakens it.”
But the civic body has blamed the tenants of the area saying that the tenants refuse to vacate the building. Harshad Kale, deputy municipal commissioner of the area told the leading daily, “This area has many old buildings. Some of them are even a century old. That is the most challenging part for BMC, as tenants refuse to vacate them, for fear of losing out on a prime property. There are also many illegal buildings, which the BMC is constantly acting against, but there are many hurdles.”
