As the death toll of building collapse in Mumbai rose to 60, it won’t be an overstatement to say that similar disasters are waiting to happen in nearly 22 wadas in the city.
Just like the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) too has served notices to the dilapidated buildings. However, it has failed to pull them down. Local residents fear that these structures may collapse any time.
The building situated on Dockyard Road on the harbour line in Mumbai came down crashing on Friday and residents were trapped under the debris. Till Sunday, 60 bodies were recovered.
The building was listed under ‘needing urgent repairs’ category, but families continued to reside in there.
Meanwhile, PMC has identified nearly 150 structures which are beyond repairs and need to be pulled down. Since 2008, PMC pulled down over 100 structures and according to the building permission department, there are 22 structures listed in the ‘highly dangerous’ category which are yet to be demolished.
Vivek Kharwadkar, head of building permission department of PMC, said, “PMC has already started its drive to raze these structures which include wadas and old buildings.” Most of these structures are situated in Kasba Peth, Budhwar Peth, Shaniwar Peth, Nana Peth, Bhavani Peth and Narayan Peth areas.
Couple of days ago, a wall of one of these structures collapsed but fortunately there was no casualty. PMC has already issued notice to the wada owner.
Past incidents
September 24, 2012, Taljai: In a tragic incident, 11 people lost their lives after an under construction building collapsed
June 16, Dattawadi, 2013: Three women lost their lives after the retaining wall of a building collapsed
June 20, Kasba Peth: A 75-year-old woman and her 17-year-old granddaughter lost their lives after a portion of the wall of 80-year-old Shinde Wada collapsed in Kasba Peth
September 18, Yerawada: Four persons died in Lakshminagar slum after a compound wall collapsed on a house
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