95% of buildings in Ulhasnagar illegal, says civic body

After the recent incidents, it has started sending notices to residents to conduct structural audit of their buildings

The small city of Ulhasnagar has around 10,000 buildings. Almost 95 per cent of these buildings are illegal, said Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation.

Every year, there are two to three incidents of slab collapse in Ulhasnagar.

On Sunday, a roof collapsed on the ground floor of an apartment, killing three people. The five-storey building had a clinic on the ground floor. The second floor roof crashed down on the clinic. The three dead had come to the clinic.

Two days later on Tuesday, a slab of the first floor of four-storey Ashirwad market in Ulhasnagar collapsed. The incident took place when the flooring work was going on. No one was injured in the incident. More than 40 shops were sealed after the incident. As per UMC, the building is one of the 252 buildings listed as dangerous structures.

The two incidents have highlighted the city’s unabated illegal constructions and the civic body’s failure to curb the menace.

“In most incidents we have seen that the buildings are constructed using low-quality materials,” said an UMC official, on condition of anonymity.

The municipal corporation has no officer in charge for the town planning department, which has also led to rampant constructions in the city. “The post of the town planning officer in UMC is lying vacant for two to three years,” said Yuvraj Bhadane, public relations officer, UMC.

He refused to say the reason for the post lying vacant.

The city’s population has increased to around 9 lakhs.

Activist Shashikant Dayma said all illegal constructions have come up in the past 25 to 30 years when people started shifting to the city. “Most constructions have illegally added more floors to one to two-storey buildings. Around 300 illegal buildings were built between 1994 and 1996 in Ulhasnagar,” said Dayma, who has been living in Ulhasnagar for 20 years.

The corporation claimed that they had evacuated around 20 illegal and dangerous structures three years ago.

After the recent incidents, it has started sending notices to residents to conduct structural audit of their buildings. UMC said they have sent around 900 notices, but only two per cent have responded to the notice.

UMC said it would take action after it issues notices. “We will issue notices to all structures in the city to carry out structural audit. Depending on the response, we will decide the next course of action,” said Bhadane.

Every year, there are two to three incidents of slab collapse in Ulhasnagar. “It is a known fact that poor quality materials have been used for most constructions in the city. A small drilling work shakes the walls,” said Dayma.

According to the residents, the corporation only issues notice but no other measures are taken to curb such incidents in future. “Only notices have been sent to carry out structural audit. UMC does not do anything more than this although residents’ safety is at risk,” said Payal Ahuja, 34, a resident of Ulhasnagar-3, near Gol Maidan.

No transit camps

UMC does not have any transit camps to house those rendered homeless after a building collapse. This is a reason UMC states for not evacuating dangerous buildings.

“Residents of around 20 illegal and dangerous structures were evacuated three years ago. Lack of transit camps has stopped the corporation from carrying out the drive. There is no space in the city for us to construct a transit camp,” said Bhadane.

Lack of space issue is also a hurdle to implement cluster development. “Ulhasnagar does not have space to implement the cluster scheme. We have proposed to merge Ulhasnagar with the nearby villages. This will help the city get more space,” said Dayma.

Homebuyers on the lurch

The city has a sizeable population of Sindhi community, who shifted here after Partition. “The Sindhis, who are mostly into business, didn’t cross-check legalities before purchasing property,” said Dayma.

“One does not follow the process while purchasing homes in Ulhasnagar. But, it is difficult to get loan approval to buy property in Ulhasnagar. Buyers have to pay cash,” he said.

Projects get permission

In the past few months, around 40 to 50 construction projects have got permission, although UMC does not have a town-planning officer. Activist Moti Ludhwani said these constructions had not got a nod when Sanjeev Karpe was the planning officer in 2016.

“Before 2016, around 40 to 50 construction projects were stalled during the tenure of the then town-planning officer Sanjeev Karpe,” said Ludhwani.

“In 2016, 53-year-old Karpe went missing from Borghat area near Pune. He has not been traced yet,” said Ludhwani.