BMC to vacate 6 dilapidated buildings: 230 families of civic workers likely to be affected, resist move

The civic body’s decision to evacuate six structurally-unstable buildings across Mumbai ahead of the monsoon is likely to affect 230 families of civic conservancy staff workers.

The civic body’s decision to evacuate six structurally-unstable buildings across Mumbai ahead of the monsoon is likely to affect 230 families of civic conservancy staff workers.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which has already sent the evacuation notices to the residents, is planning to send reminder circulars soon.

Following this, the residents will be left with two options — either shift to Mahul transit camps or find another temporary shelter, until the BMC redevelops the structure. All six buildings are owned by the civic body.

Along with the delayed structural audit, resistance from the residents is another issue that the BMC needs to be tackle.

Residents, however, blame delayed redevelopment projects for their reluctance to vacate their houses. For instance, residents who had moved out of Gautam Nagar building 1, Dadar, returned to their dilapidated homes earlier this year, after the BMC failed to timely demolish them and start the redevelopment.

“Delay on the part of the departments that are supposed to take up the demolition work has forced us to send eviction notices to Gautam Nagar residents again,” said a senior civic official.

The residents, over the past two years, have stalled several eviction drives, even pelting stones on the ward officer. Conservancy staff workers were also suspended for a few days as they failed to evacuate the dilapidated structures.

Civic body now aims to complete the work on the transit camp in Gautam Nagar building by month end.

The solid waste management department had earlier prepared a list of six C1-category buildings i.e. structurally unstable. These buildings were found to be in extremely dangerous condition and needed to be vacated immediately. However, a year on, the buildings are yet to be demolished.

Post the building collapse at Dockyard Road which killed 61 people, the BMC, in November 2013, initiated structural audit of buildings that are 30 years old and above. However, of the 3,192 buildings in the BMC jurisdiction, only 751 have been audited so far.