Mumbai: Narrow bylanes make rescue operations a nightmare as fire engines fail to manoeuvre

Flavours of the city are found in its in narrow bylanes which can be predominantly seen in south Mumbai.

But on Tuesday, the same narrow and congested bylanes of Dongri created hurdles in the rescue operations after an old building had collapsed there. While rescue forces from Fire Brigade and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) reached the site; their machinery and fire engines found it difficult to reach Kesarbhai building on Tandel Street, Dongri. Between the main road and the building collapse site; there were blue coloured tarpaulin sheet covered structures and buildings. In all, there are eight buildings around it. The market area frequently used by the locals there further congested the road. This caused a lot of problems for the fire engines who found it difficult to manoeuvre and reach the site.

S N Pradhan, Director General, National Disaster Response Force said that three teams of NDRF were engaged in rescue operations who reached their on-foot. "The pathway to the collapsed building was very narrow and the vehicles with rescue equipment are unable to reach there," he said the reporters at the site. It was seen that at the site, the local crowd, who were eager to help the rescue operations, too were blocking whatever road was available and it was taking a long time to reach the site.

On the other hand, the Traffic Police had taken up diversions around and below JJ Flyover which were leading to Dongri. They also created a 'Green Corridor' for the emergency vehicles to reach the site. Meanwhile, CM Devendra Fadnavis said that the building was supposed to undergo redevelopment for which a developer was also finalised.