Mumbai building collapse: 3-member civic body panel to submit report in 15 days
Additional municipal commissioner (eastern suburbs) Vijay Singhal will head a committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that will investigate the collapse of the Siddhi Sai building in Ghatkopar, killing 17 people on Tuesday.
The three-member committee comprising Singhal, deputy municipal commissioner (improvement) Chandrashekhar Chore and director of the BMC’s engineering services, VP Chitore, has 15 days to determine the causes of the collapse and take disciplinary action against civic officials found guilty of dereliction of duty. The committee would also suggest recommendations to prevent similar incidents.
Following the disaster, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had ordered a probe. Accordingly, a committee was constituted by municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Wednesday.
Local residents have alleged that illegal alterations carried out by Shiv Sena leader Sunil Shitap in his ground floor nursing home led to the collapse.
The BMC will also put a system in place to hinder unauthorised structural changes based on the committee’s recommendation.
A similar committee had been formed after the 2013 Dockyard building collapse that killed 61. The panel had submitted 15 recommendations. It had said that building owners must compile architectural drawings of all construction stages and also procure structural audit reports.
It had clearly specified that no resident or owner of any building can make changes such as breaking down walls or constructing new ones, extending balconies or any other cosmetic renovations that can add a load to the structure — without permissions from the building proposal department.
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