THIRD IN 6 WEEKS: GOVT VOWS FORCIBLE EVICTION

RECENT COLLAPSESJuly 25Ghatkopar (W), toll

17

August 26 Chandivli,at least 7killed

Residents did not vacate the

building as they didn’t trust the SBUT and government authorities. Now, we feel residents of dilapidated build-ings should be vacated and moved forcibly to a transit camp

PRAKASH MEHTA |STATE HOUSING MINISTER

THE STRUCTURE Seven-storeyed, 117-year-old

Husaini Building close to the JJ flyover in Bhendi Bazaar

The cessed building had 12 tenants—10 residential and 2 commercial

THE COLLAPSE

LIVING DANGEROUSLY

1 Mhada issued two notices in 2011 declaring the building dilapidated

2 In 2016, it issued a demolition notice for the building

3 Seven families were shifted out of the building in 2013-14 by

the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, which is implementing the Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project. Five families were yet to shift

8.30am on Thursday

The dead include 4 women and a 3-yr-old girl

Dilapidated BuildingsThere are 16,000 cessed properties in the island city that may have out-lived their time. Original tenants of such buildings fear that if they shift to transit camps, they will never be able to return

BENNETT, COLEMAN & CO. LTD. | ESTABLISHED 1838 | TIMESOFINDIA.COM | EPAPER.TIMESOFINDIA.COM MUMBAI | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 | PAGES 42 *

P R I C E ` 7 . 0 0 A L O N G W I T H M U M B A I M I R R O R O R T H E E C O N O M I C T I M E S O R M A H A R A S H T R A T I M E S *

Mumbai: In the third building crash in thecity in just over a month, 24 people, includi-ng a three-year-old girl, were killed when a117-year-old dilapidated house collapsed inBhendi Bazaar around 8.30am on Thursday.

Thirteen people had been pulled out al-ive from the rubble till late in the eveningand seven residents were still feared trapp-ed. Rescue operations involving the Nati-onal Disaster Relief Force, the fire brigadeand police are continuing. Nineteen peop-le, including six rescue workers, have beenadmitted to hospital.

The seven-storey Husaini building onPakmodia Street was home to five families, aplayschool on the first floor and two comme-rcial establishments, including a sweet ma-rt, on the ground floor.

BMC officials at the spot said the preli-minary cause of the crash could be the ext-remely heavy rains that lashed Mumbai onTuesday. Residents of two adjacent buildi-ngs were asked to move out as a safety mea-sure. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,who visited the spot, announced a compen-sation of Rs 5 lakh for the families of the de-ad and said the treatment of the injuredwould be taken care of. “An inquiry has be-en ordered into the crash by the additionalchief secretary, housing,” he added.

By the time the fire brigade could rea-ch, anxious relatives and locals were thr-onging the area. Even the fire tenders andambulances found it difficult to move inthe chaos.

19 Injured As 117-YearStructure Gives Way,

7 Persons Still Missing

24 die in Bhendi Bazaar bldg crash

Stuck under concrete and dust,Ahmed Ali (21) held on to his

cellphone. “I was talking on the phonewhen the building crashed, so I couldimmediately dial 100. I repeated thatthe area was Bhendi Bazar but thepolice person asked me to provide adetailed address. By then the line gotdisconnected,” he told TOI, lying in JJHospital with both legs fractured. P 3

Stuck youth holds onto mobile, dials 100

In a first, a green corridor was createdto provide smooth and unhindered

passage to the National DisasterResponse Force (NDRF) convoy tospeed up its arrival from AndheriSports Complex to the building crashsite. The state government nowintends to include such fast corridorsin its standard operating procedure for NDRF teams. P 3

First green corridor forNDRF helps clear way

Eleven children aged between 2 and3 years had a providential escape

on Thursday as the Tulip StarPlayschool and Nursery located on thefirst floor of the ill-fated building wasto open at 9.30am. The school, which isbeing run by the D T Wataniyah Trustfor over 30 years, usually enrols 25-30children. This year, however, not manyhad taken admission. P 3

Playschool on 1st floorwas to open an hr later

Mumbai: The body of reno-wned gastroenterologist Dr

Deepak Amr-apurkar (59)washed ashorenear Worli Sea-face on Thursd-ay morning.

Multiple disaster control age-ncies had launched a massivesearch for Amrapurkar, whohad slipped into an open man-hole at the flooded Elphinsto-ne junction during the down-pour on Tuesday evening.

Locals were the first tospot Dr Amrapurkar’s bodyand inform the police, who as-ked his doctor-friends to iden-tify the body. His wristwatch,driving licence, clothes andmobile phone helped policeconfirm his identity. The bo-

dy was found near the draina-ge outlet in Worli village closeto the Indian Coast Guard He-adquarters at 6.30am. Themedical fraternity erupted inanger thereafter.

Dr Amrapurkar’s funeralwas held around 4pm at theShivaji Park crematorium af-ter an autopsy was carriedout in the civic-run Sion Ho-spital. Many senior doctorsfrom Bombay Hospital where

Dr Amrapurkar consulted aswell as civic-run KEM Hospi-tal in Parel and state-run JJHospital in Byculla were pre-sent for the funeral. His wife,Anjali, also a doctor, and hissister were inconsolable.

Dr Girish Mishra, a chil-dhood friend who arrivedfrom Ahmedabad, said thefamily was traumatized.

Doctor’s bodywashes ashore,BMC in dock

The bodies of a 29-year-oldwoman and a schoolgirl

were fished out from below theKalwa bridge and the Vitawacreek on Thursday. DeepaliBansode, employed in KorumMall, was sucked into theswollen nullah even as herhusband was waiting for her onthe other side of the road. P 4

Thane mall workersucked into nullah

The Federation Of RetailTraders Welfare Association

filed a PIL in the Bombay highcourt on Thursday to demandregistration of a criminal caseagainst the civic chief and Rs 50lakh compensation to be givento any NGO for causing Dr Amrapurkar’s death due togross negligence. P 4

Traders move HCagainst civic chief

Mumbai:The ground-plus-six-storey building that collapsed atBhendi Bazaar was twice issu-ed warning notices by Mhada in2011 before it was declared dila-pidated. Yet, it never appearedon the dilapidated building listof the BMC or the state housingauthority for these six years.

In this period, only sevenof the 13 tenant families couldbe convinced to move out.Now, a blame game has startedamong the various agencies.The BMC pointed at Mhada,saying the structure was a ce-ss property. All cess old and di-lapidated buildings in the isla-nd city fall under Mhada’s ju-risdiction.

Mhada, in turn, claimedthat the Bhendi Bazaar clust-er redevelopment proposal,which included the collapsedbuilding, was submitted bythe Saifee Burhani Upliftme-nt Trust (SBUT). “After we ga-ve the NOC, the developer isresponsible for vacating thebuilding. Why was this not do-ne since 2012?’’ asked a housi-ng authority official. “In fact,on May 27, 2016, we grantedpermission to SBUT to demo-lish the building,” added theMhada official.

Building not on dilapidated

list; blamegame begins

Richa.Pinto@timesgroup.com

�Fears of endless exile, P 3�Smoke from sweet mart hits ops, P 5 �IMA writes to PMO, P 4

� Retd judge wants civicchief held responsible, P 4� Waded in water? Takeantibiotic by Sat: BMC, P 2

FULL COVERAGE: P 3 & 5

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Richa Pinto, Mateen Hafeez & Sumitra Deb Roy TNN

Pic: S L Shanth Kumar