Illegal structures, crashes not new to Mumbra

In the past six months, Mumbra has become infamous for its illegal buildings and their collapses. While a chargesheet has been filed in the Lucky Compound building collapse which highlighted the flourishing business of illegal constructions in Mumbra, the two ensuing collapses are a result of the residents inability to vacate their houses in spite of the buildings being dangerous and illegal respectively. 

On September 21, at 7.55am, the six storey building Banu Complex at Jeevanbaugh Mumbra collapsed. It was an illegal structure and fortunately most of its 150 residents vacated it an hour before the collapse. “We have given them aid of Rs5,000 per family as they have lost everything. We have also offered them our rental housing scheme where they have to pay Rs2,000 per month as rent to stay at the Dosti group’s complex at Vartaknagar,” said Sandeep Malvi, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) spokesperson.

There are 61 dilapidated buildings in Thane out of which 15 are in Mumbra. “50 buildings have been vacated in Thane, 13 out of 15 in Mumbra and the remaining two will be vacated within a week as we are waiting for their structural report. By the end of September all the residents of the dilapidated buildings will be vacated and they will be demolished,” he said.