Landslide at Chembur claims six-year-old's life, injures slum-dwellers

A day after 31 people died in a landslide at Pune, a six-year old boy was killed and one other was injured, in another landslide at Chembur.

The accident occurred at 8:30am when a portion of a hill came crashing down on some hutments below near Ashok Nagar in Chembur. According to a BMC official, the hutments were unauthorised.

The victim has been identified as Ganesh Khurade, who was sitting inside the shanty, when the stone collapsed on its shed.

According to a disaster management unit report, there are 263 landslide-prone spots in the city. N ward, which covers Ghatkopar east, has the maximum number of landslide-prone spots (30), followed by D ward (16), which covers Malabar Hill and Walkeshwar area. L ward, which covers Kurla area, has 15 such spots.

Kiran Dighavkar, assistant municipal commissioner of M east ward, said that the area where the incident occurred belongs to the collector and not the BMC. "Before the onset of the monsoon, we had issued notices to slum residents who were residing at these vulnerable spots. However, they refused to vacate their homes," he said.

Dighavkar added, "Two slums were damaged in the landslide and seven others stood at a vulnerable position. We have shifted those residents temporarily to a nearby municipal school."

He also informed that the MMRDA is in the process of rehabilitating some of the slums residents from the area.

There are currently 146 shelter schools of the BMC in the city, where victims of such incidents are usually shifted.