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Living dangerously: Residents unwilling to leave dilapidated wadas in Pune
Pune: Residents are reluctant to leave poorly-maintained wadas and risk their lives as rains further weaken these old structures, despite the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) sending notices to vacate these places
Pune: Residents are reluctant to leave poorly-maintained wadas and risk their lives as rains further weaken these old structures, despite the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) sending notices to vacate these places.
On Saturday, a portion of Karande wada on Nehru chowk in Shukrawar peth collapsed around 7.20 am. Fire brigade team rescued six persons and no casualty was reported.
Three families were living in the 80-year-old, three-floor structure.
Pradeep Khedkar, the station duty officer who led the fire brigade team along with eight firemen, said, “The control room received a call that a part of the staircase and a portion of the wall had collapsed. Six persons (three women and 3 men) trapped on the third floor were pulled out with the help of a rope. The rescue operation just took 15 minutes. We also informed PMC building department about the incident and their team as a safety measure removed a portion of the stairs that was hanging.”
“Though we had earlier sent notices to the residents of the wada to vacate citing its dilapidated condition, we cannot take any action against them as we are not providing them with alternate accommodation. Hence, they continue to live there. Currently, PMC doesn’t have any facility like ready flats available for these people,” said Sudhir Kadam, acting superintendent engineer (building department), PMC.
“In Mumbai, there is a separate department which repairs old structures after relocating its residents. We have proposed to the PMC standing committee for a department dedicated to look after the maintenance of old wadas,” Kadam said.
PMC has served notice to 478 wadas of which 28 are demolished by the civic body.
“The survey to identify poorly-maintained wadas will continue till the end of monsoon,” he said.
Reluctance to vacate wadas
Civic officials often find it difficult to vacate wada owners and residents even after serving them notice.
“Since the wadas belong to their ancestors, many people don’t want to leave the place and are willing to risk their lives,” said a PMC building department official on condition of anonymity.
20 trees fall in 12 hours
On Saturday, from 7 am to 7pm, 20 tree falling incidents were recorded in the city. A calf was also rescued from the riverbed near Deccan Gymkhana. In all these cases, no casualties were reported.
Historic buildings
PMC has divided wadas into categories depending upon strength of its structure
Category/wada
C1 (Completely demolished)/28
C2 (Major repairs)/316
C3 (Minor repairs)/134
Total: 478
Past incidents
May 2022: Portion of Nulkar wada in Sadashiv peth collapsed; no casualty
March 2020: 48-year-old man along with her mother survived after Singhaniya wada collapsed near Shrimant Dagaduseth Halwai Ganpati temple.
August 2019: A woman and her 12-year-old son survived after a wall of wada in Ganesh Peth collapsed
August 2019: 12 feet wall of wada in Guruwar peth collapsed; no casualty.
