Thane: On Saturday, March 4 in the night the wall of building "F" a group of five buildings in Lodha Haven at Palava in Dombivali (East) developed a crack. The slabs suddenly started collapsing and there was a atmosphere of tense in the building. Bharat Pawar assistant commissioner of E ward of the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) informed on Sunday, March 5 that 240 families in five buildings were immediately evacuated safely to avoid loss of life.
Bharat Pawar said, "The Lodha Haven housing project consists of a cluster of five buildings named Shanti Upavan. The "F" building in this group has cracks on all four sides, the slabs are slowly collapsing. As this building posed a threat to other buildings as well, the family was evacuated safely by the fire officials. Some displaced residents are staying at a school in the same area and some have preferred to go to their relatives. We after taking the advice of the structural engineers of the KDMC a decision will be taken regarding whether to demolish these buildings immediately or after some time."
Buildings were built in 1998
The Shanti Upvan buildings in the Lodha Haven housing project were built in 1998 by a construction company of a local representative under the guidance of a well-known developer.
One of the residents of the building on the condition of anonymity allegedly said that, " The buildings in this housing project were named after the mother of the local representative. The incident happened because Shanti Upvan building was not maintained and repaired for many years and the developer did not pay attention despite repeated requests."
"The said building 'Shanti Upavan' has not been developed by Lodha / Macrotech Developers and we are not associated with the development called 'Lodha Heaven' which was developed 20+ years ago. We sympathize with the residents and are open to extend any assistance that may be required on humanitarian grounds," said company spokesperson.
Prashant Narvekar
Residents notice cracks in building
Around 11 pm on Saturday, March 4 some residents noticed that the "F" building in Shanti Upvan buildings was cracking and the slab was slowly collapsing. All the residents were alerted. Many residents started refusing to come out of their house asking how to get out of their house at night, where to stay and ei their children's 10th and 12th exams are going on. Residents were shaken by this sudden crisis. Many houses were having senior citizens and small babies and everyone were upset.
Power supply to this area was interrupted for some time. Lodha Haven, Katai, Nilje area was in darkness for some time. Mobile torch were used for lighting. Residents were told that disaster would happen if they did not leave the house. The residents came out of the house taking the necessary belongings with them. Residents of Nilje, Katai area rushed to Lodha Haven for rescue as soon as they got information about the slabs in buildings in Lodha Haven.
KDMC E Ward assistant commissioner Bharat Pawar along with the emergency team reached the spot. Two fire tenders from the Palava station of the fire brigade arrived under the guidance of fire officer Namdev Chaudhary.
The fire brigade and police personnel took special action to prevent any danger or loss of life in the adjacent building and area near Shanti Upavan building.
