Mumbai rains bring down wall of upscale Wadala building, 6 cars buried

A wall of an upscale residential building in Mumbai’s Wadala East area collapsed following heavy rains on Monday morning, forcing over 200 residents to vacate their flats and trapping at least six cars.

Officials at Antop Hill police station said the wall of Llyod Estate caved into the adjoining site of Dosti Reality Limited at around 5am, adding that no injuries were reported.

They said the soil under Llyod Estate had begun to loosen up and erode after Dosti Realty started its construction on the adjoining plot a year ago.

An FIR in this regard is yet to be registered, an official said.

Residents of 240 flats in C and D wings of Llyod Estate vacated the building following the incident early on Monday. They said they have been complaining of problems due to the adjoining site for over a year.

“Since May last year, around the perimeter of my building, the ground began to tilt and sink. Even the tiles in the parking lot sank. We realised the soil underneath was giving away due to the construction of Dosti Realty. So we got a structural audit done,” Nauzer Dalal, a resident and committee member of Llyod Estate said.

The audit report confirmed the soil underneath the building was eroding but stated that the building was structurally sound. It said only five pillars of the building, on the Dosti Realty site side, were weakened.

“We were told the building is on a separate hillock so it won’t face any issues,” Dalal said.

Residents of Llyod Estate have demanded that the builder reconstruct their building entirely.

“If you notice, the podium of the building is also tilted slightly. These are our homes and looking at long term, it is unsafe to live in the building. We want the builder to give us alternate homes till he reconstructs these buildings for us,” Simran Parmar, a resident, said.

The residents are now unsure if they can continue to live in the building as most of the ground underneath the D wing has become weak due to soil erosion.

“We will take a call on whether to return to our homes tonight after the auditor has checked the site,” Dalal said.

Kartik Garodia, a partner at Dosti Reality, said they will check if the construction on their site was the reason behind the wall collapse.

“Then we will take whatever steps necessary to ensure the safety of the residents of Llyod Estate,” Garodia added.

Heavy rains in Mumbai on Monday battered the city as several areas witnessed traffic snarls, flooding and train delays during morning rush hours.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said heavy rainfall will continue in some parts of the city and its suburbs after similar conditions over the weekend.

First Published: Jun 25, 2018 14:12 IST