44 extremely dangerous structures still occupied in Thane

The death of seven people in three different building collapses in Mumbai has brought the issue of dangerous buildings in Thane to the fore. The Thane Municipal

The death of seven people in three different building collapses in Mumbai has brought the issue of dangerous buildings in Thane to the fore. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has vacated only 35 of the 79 extremely dangerous buildings in the city while 44 buildings are still partly or completely occupied.

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Naupada-Kopri ward has the maximum of 37 dangerous buildings of which only 13 have been evacuated.

As most of the transit camps and civic properties have been converted to quarantine centres in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the civic body is also facing dearth of shelter homes for those residing in dangerous buildings.

A civic official said, “There are 79 buildings in the extremely dangerous category, of which we have evacuated 35 buildings. While 44 buildings are yet to be evacuated, only 10 to 15 buildings are completely occupied and the remaining are partially occupied with merely two to three families residing here. The process of evacuation is in progress to ensure none of the extremely dangerous buildings are occupied.”

According to the survey of dangerous buildings conducted by TMC, there are total 4,300 dangerous buildings in the city, of which 79 are in extremely dangerous category (C1) and 113 are in C2-A category which means dangerous parts of the said buildings need to be demolished, for which the residents need to be evacuated. These C-1 and C2-A buildings currently have more than 150 families residing in them.

The official said, “We have sent notices to all these families residing in dangerous structures. However, most people are not vacating the buildings due to the Covid-19 situation in the city. We are trying to provide accommodation in rental buildings to as many as possible. We are also looking at alternative accommodations for these families.”