Pedder Road landslide: Soham bungalow to remain unoccupied for one more month

Linah Baliga The residents of Soham bungalow behind Cadbury House at Pedder Road, who were evacuated a few days after a landslide in the vicinity on June 30 midnight, will have to wait for another month to return to their homes

Linah Baliga

Soham bungalow at Pedder Road Satish Bate/HT Photo

The residents of Soham bungalow behind Cadbury House at Pedder Road, who were evacuated a few days after a landslide in the vicinity on June 30 midnight, will have to wait for another month to return to their homes.

The building is owned by mining baron and founder of Vedanta Resources, Anil Agarwal.

A committee appointed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has in its interim report said that a structural member of the bungalow is in a precarious condition due to its exposed foundation and cracked piles. It has recommended that the building remain vacated until the slope is stabilised and the foundation is strengthened.

While the nearby Shah Baug building is structurally safe, its compound wall on the side of the slope is vulnerable to collapse, the report, a copy of which is with HT, said.

The report said the excavation for the basement of an under-construction building, which is believed to have caused the landslide, had reached seven metre and after the incident, large quantities of shoring piles had caved into the basement, resulting in cracks on the footpath and the compound wall of Shah Baug building.

The committee comprises R Jangid from IIT Bombay, V B Deshmukh from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Shashank Mehendale of Shashank Mehendale Associates, and representatives from the BMC and the Mumbai fire brigade.

Chetan Raikar, structural consultant independently appointed by the owners of Vedanta Resources, said, “The landfilling is done and we have started taking measures to strengthen the structure. There is no immediate danger but as a precaution, a decision has been taken to not occupy it now and residents will come back as soon as it is declared safe.”

When asked about the time required to strengthen and declare the structure safe, Raikar said, “It will at least take about a month’s time.”

Mehendale said one column of Soham bungalow has developed a crack and it is visible. “It isn’t appropriate to say that the entire building is in danger but one particular column is affected. Thus, it isn’t fit for habitation until the stabilisation is done and the exposed pile and pile cap is attended to.”

Deshmukh said work on restoration of the affected structural member is being carried out and only after monitoring the health of the structure will the occupants be allowed to return.

After the landslide, Mehendale said, their focus was to find ways to stabilise the surrounding buildings. “The immediate issue was that the landslide-affected area shouldn’t spread. We had advised the BMC to immediately backfill the basement and at the vertical cliff, do a toe filling so that slip circle doesn’t develop and the landslide doesn’t progress. Otherwise, the fear was it would keep on progressing.”

The interim report also said Shah Baug building was not affected by the landslide. However, the compound wall was right at the top of the slope and the side open space was recommended to be barricaded until the slope was stabilised.

“It had not suffered any structural damage till the time we visited,” Mehendale said.

The report also suggested an audit of Shah Baug building.

Two other buildings in the vicinity - Prabhu Kunj where the late legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar stayed and Vasundhra building - also remain structurally unaffected.

Meanwhile, the BMC has formed a committee comprising Jangid and Deshmukh to monitor the work of the under-construction building up to the plinth level.