The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) office of C ward, which covers Bhuleshwar, Mumbadevi and Kalbadevi, has appealed to the buildings in this ward to submit a structural audit report. Earlier, in May, C ward had sent notices to the owners of 3,200 privately owned buildings. Civic officials said, of these, 2,222 are private residential buildings and the rest are commercial structures, like mobile towers and sign boards. An engineer from C ward said that, so far, only six respondents have submitted their report.
Officials said that residents can conduct the audit with private engineers. In case they have a problem in finding one, they may contact the local ward office and BMC may arrange one auditor. "Based on the audit reports, we categorise the buildings and decide whether residents should continue to stay or vacate. If we find that a building is in a dangerous condition, we cut down the water and electricity supply immediately," said the engineer.
"Few days ago, we saw how a building in Malad came down crashing. This is why proper structural audit is required. There are many buildings that are decades old and need immediate attention. These are all private non cess buildings, which is why we can't do anything without their approval," he said.
Another official said that many old buildings are from the British era and are embroiled in legal disputes, which is why both the owners and tenants try to bypass their responsibility.
Earlier, on Friday, D ward had also sent a similar notice and urged buildings to submit their structural audit reports.
