The BMC moved more than 100 people to safe areas following a minor landslide in Ghatkopar (West) on Thursday, hours after a landslide claimed 16 lives in Irsalwadi village in Raigad.
The incident occurred on Khairani Road. A huge tree fell on the roof of a temple in Pitamaha Ramaji Nagar in Bhatwadi, Ghatkopar (West). The local ward office and team from the National Disaster Response Force immediately arrived at the scene and moved the people living nearby.
AMC assessed the landslide situation
Gajanan Bellare, Assistant Municipal Commissioner, N Ward, said, “We examined the area and found 25 to 30 houses in vulnerable condition. So we immediately shifted around 100 people to Barve Nagar Municipal School No 1. The people living in landslide-prone areas have been requested to go to safer places.”
Meanwhile, following the Irsalwadi incident, civic officials have started inspecting landslide-prone areas in Mumbai. Officials visited 15 areas in Ghatkopar and 10 in Bhandup.
Creating awareness in Ghatkopar
“We have checked the soil, dangerous trees and overall situation in the vulnerable areas. We are also creating awareness among the residents about how they should respond and save their lives in such kinds of disasters. We will inspect other landslide-prone areas in Kurla and other places. It was pre-planned and had nothing to do with the incident in Khalapur,” an official said.
According to RTI information shared by activist Anil Galgali, the city has 327 landslide-prone areas, most of them in the eastern suburbs. Around 20,000 shanties are in these areas, out of which, 10,381 have been protected by constructing retaining walls, while 9,656 houses need to be shifted.
During the pre-monsoon survey, the BMC found 72 areas under the highly vulnerable category with most of the spots having no proper access to machinery. To overcome the problem, the BMC started deploying one team of NDRF from last year at Chembur, Bhandup, and Ghatkopar, the areas that have most of the spots prone to landslides.
From 1992 to 2023, 310 people have died in landslide incidents
Most vulnerable areas
Kurla: 45
Dindoshi: 43
Jogeshwari: 28
Ghatkopar: 27
Sewri: 20
Bhandup: 10
