Kandivali building collapse: BMC inspects residential structures for stability; demolishes adjoining homes

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday inspected all the buildings around the Kandivali residential ground including the one-storey building that collapsed on Saturday, claiming the life of a minor boy

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Sunday inspected all the buildings around the Kandivali residential ground including the one-storey building that collapsed on Saturday, claiming the life of a minor boy. BMC demolished the adjoining dilapidated residential structures.

Rescue operation underway after a building collapsed in Kandivali area on Saturday. (PTI)

The collapse that took place around 4pm also injured a six-month-old baby among five others. The Kandivali police arrested the supervisor of the contractor on Sunday. Identified as Amit Goswami, cops booked him under Section 304 (2) (death due to negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

BMC was carrying out drainage repair work along the road, and the vibration from the construction work impacted the building, which according to BMC was an illegal concrete structure without a foundation of piling.

Assistant municipal commissioner Sandhya Nandedkar informed, “This is a slum locality, and the houses are made of single brick walls. All the structures here are illegal. On Sunday, a team of civic staff inspected the buildings along the road where construction work is going on, and found the adjoining structure to be dilapidated. The residents of this building were vacated, before the demolition by the BMC.”

Nandedkar said that BMC’s drain work entailed digging merely one metre into the ground, but the structure that collapsed on Saturday could not withstand these vibrations. Nandedkar said, “We don’t want to take further risk with the remaining structures. Hence the buildings were inspected on Sunday to check for stability. However, they are all unauthorised.”