Buildings on the Brink: 60-year-old commercial building in Kandivali on its last leg but shopkeepers refuse to budge

Buildings on the Brink: 60-year-old commercial building in Kandivali on its last leg but shopkeepers refuse to budge

Shashank RaoUpdated: Tuesday, June 29, 2021, 08:10 AM IST
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Photo Credit: BL Soni

The north-west suburbs of Kandivli, Malad and Borivli are among the most congested parts of the city where the middle class reside. These areas have a mix of skyscrapers, slums and old buildings. There are many dilapidated buildings as well that come under the BMC’s C-1 list, which means extremely dangerous.

In the R/South ward, which covers parts of Kandivli and Malad on both east and west, 12 such buildings have been identified. Overall, there are 407 such buildings across the city.

While some of the buildings have been vacated, many are still occupied by residents, shopkeepers or offices. Vidyanidhi Building at Mathuradas Road in Kandivli (W) is one such example.

This ground-plus-two commercial building is almost 60 years old. There are shops and small offices on the ground floor; the first floor comprises commercial units and second floor gets is narrowed down to a smaller portion with broken windows hanging. Shopkeepers claim that there are no residents living here.

“We understand that living or working in a building that is in a dilapidated state is risky. But in this case the building is in good condition. It has been at least three years since this building was declared C-1. Barring few flakes falling here and there, the building is in a good state and its walls are also thick,” said S Shah, who has a shop in the building.

The shop owners said that there is a case going on in the high court and they have challenged the BMC’s decision to declare the structure under C-1. The tenants claimed that a structural audit was carried out which stated that the building can be repaired. The shopkeepers are ready to shell out around Rs 15 to 20 lakh for repairs as well.

Another shopkeeper from the building said that they had already suffered losses due to Covid and now they are keeping shops open as per the government norms. Local activist Dhawal Vora said that there are quite a few buildings in this ward that are embroiled in legal tangles.

There is a board hanging at the entrance of this building stating about redevelopment. The developer’s board reads as ‘property belongs to V-City developed in association with Horizon Dream Homes’. When this reporter went to the office of the developer at Liberty Gardens in Kandivli, one of the office staff said that the developer was out of town and was not available for comment.

Meanwhile, MP from Mumbai north, Gopal Shetty, is closely monitoring the issue. “The BMC is simply declaring these buildings as C-1 but not following it up. The landowners offer barely a few lakhs to the tenants and don’t redevelop it on time. I will write a letter on this issue and will take out a morcha against the government on the issue of such dilapidated buildings,” said Shetty.

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