Ulhasnagar residents fear no steps taken to resolve slab collapse incidents

Though the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation has started to identify, audit and vacate dangerous structures in the city, the work undertaken is at a very slow pace and hence not effective in controlling slab collapse incidents, complain the residents

Despite 13 people losing their lives in the last six months to various slab collapse incidents in Ulhasnagar, residents continue to live in fear as no major steps are being taken to resolve the issue.

Paras Building in Ulhasnagar. Residents fear that no steps are taken by the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation to resolve slab collapse incidents in the city. (RISHIKESH CHOUDHARY/HT PHOTO)

On Wednesday midnight at around 12.15 am, a portion of the slab above entry gate of the Sherawali Kunj Building near Yatriniwas Garden in Ulhasnagar Camp 2 collapsed. Following this, 10 families vacated the building.

Though the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) has started to identify, audit and vacate such structures in the city, the work undertaken is at a very slow pace and hence not effective in controlling such collapses, complained the residents.

A slab collapse in the five-storey Paras Building located at Gandhi Nagar in Ulhasnagar Camp 5 killed a 25-year-old resident, Akash Poptani.

Earlier in May, in two separate slab collapse incidents, a total of 12 residents were killed.

Followed by the two incidents in May, around 1,500 buildings in Ulhasnagar built during 1994-98 using low quality sand were served notices to carry out the structural audit.

The civic body has also formed a panel of structural engineers to carry out the structural audit of unsafe buildings. UMC announced to bear the cost of the audit for 116 of the 179 listed buildings that fall in the C1, C2A, C2B and C3 as per the inspection carried out by the panel.

Apart from these, thousands of buildings are still to get the audit done.

Kajal Mulchandani, a 35-year-old resident and social activist from Ulhasnagar, said, “The civic body has initiated some action in the city after the two incidents in May. However, there are no major changes in the situation. UMC, though, had served notices to 1,500 buildings to carry out structural audits; there is no clarity on how many have actually done it. There should be a constant effort from the civic body to get it done.”

UMC civic chief, Raja Dayanidhi, claimed that the civic body is prioritising those buildings that are extremely dangerous or in the dangerous category and need to be repaired or vacated immediately.

“The other buildings that were sent notices are also given regular reminders to get the audit done. The residents are, however, reluctant to do the audit claiming they cannot spend on the audit. There are a lot of such hurdles from the residents’ side due to which the audit of all these 1,500 buildings is stuck,” he added.

Social activist, Sashikant Dayma, claimed that the problem is with the material used for construction of the building and not how old the buildings are, and the UMC is losing this focus. “Paras Building, whose slab collapsed, was not in the list of 1,500 buildings. So, what is the point of this list?”

MP Shrikant Shinde claimed that a dedicated cluster policy for the city is in the pipeline. “Once the policy is sanctioned, the residents can go for regularisation and redevelopment of their respective buildings. Ulhasnagar city has no empty space compared to other cities like Thane. In Ulhasnagar, because of the space constraints, we’ll have to impose a separate policy. The government will finalise a policy by November.”