Mumbai: A section of the heritage-listed Salvation Army building in Madanpura collapsed on Wednesday afternoon when children from a shelter run by the organisation were celebrating a birthday in another wing. The children were rescued safely, but a worker at the site is reported to have sustained severe injuries, and two senior church members who lived on the top floor lost their homes.
After the incident, members of the Salvation Army alleged that repairs that were being done without permission from the municipal authorities and without consulting the community had caused the collapse. The Salvation Army is an independent Protestant denomination with headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organisation is both a church and a charity group, with the nomenclature of its religious hierarchy derived from the army. While senior church officials are known as commanders and majors, members are called soldiers.
Advocate Cyril Dara was celebrating the birthday of a colleague with children from the Salvation Army's Aruna Children Shelter, Byculla, that afternoon. Just after the cake cutting, they were warned to leave the premises as a section of the building where the celebration was taking place had collapsed. "Fortunately, the left side of the building where we all were and even some portions of the right side did not collapse; it was only the centre portion which collapsed," said Dara.
The top floor of the two-storey portion that collapsed had homes of senior church officials. The ground floor was being rented out for charitable activities. Church members alleged that the portion that collapsed seems to have been rented out to an outside party for commercial purposes. "The contractor was given the work without bids and was not competent to do the work. Workers damaged a beam, which led to the collapse," alleged Pravin Khandzod, a church member who has asked the Agripada police station to inquire into alleged irregularities.
Renting the premises for purposes other than religious, social, educational, and charity is against the rules of the Salvation Army, said Pramod Gajbhiv, a church member.
Major Sanjay Vanjare, trustee of the Salvation Army, said that the matter is under investigation. "We are not sure about the cause of the collapse. I have been able to rescue my family. Everything else is gone," said Vanjare.
Dara said that the incident is an eye-opener for the community to take care of mission properties and ensure they are used only for religious, social, welfare, and charitable activities.
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