6 injured as crane crashes on chawl in Mumbai

Ganpati celebration came to a halt for residents of New Haji-Kasam Chawl on Tuesday when a crane of an under-construction building came crashing down, injuring six.
Six rooms of the chawl were completely damaged.

The chawl, near Currey Road station, is a part of Old Islam Mill Compound. The chawl and the under-construction building, from where the crane fell, are owned by builder SP Khemka.

“It’s the private builder's responsibility to take precautions. The BMC’s building proposal department is investigating into the matter,” said Harshad Kale, assistant commissioner of F-south ward.

On August 29, the high court ordered the builder, who is redeveloping the area, to repair the building soon.

“The builder told us that the six families, whose rooms are damaged, will be given rooms in a nearby building,” Smita Rane, a resident of the chawl. “The whole structure is dangerous. We all should be shifted to a safer place.”

KG Patil, deputy commissioner of police, zone 4, said:  “We cannot say anything now. We have to investigate first.”

Another crane was pressed into service to pull the crane out from the building. Ramakant Achrekar, convenor of New-Haji Kasam Chawl Sangharsh Samiti, said: “The builder promised us new flats, but we want Rs15 crore corpus fund to maintain lift and other facilities.”

Khemka was unavailable for comment. The injured are Laukik Laad (19), his uncle Vilas Laad (37), Krishnkant Pujare (50), Anuradha Pujare (45), Sadanand Pujare (57) and Bharti Pujare (28) — the last four are from one family.