‘Inspect all dilapidated bldgs in Quresh Nagar’

The state on Thursday ordered the BMC to conduct structural audits of all dilapidated buildings in Kurla’s Quresh Nagar where a four storeyed building collapsed late on Wednesday, killing a six year old boy and rendering about 50 families homeless. The directive came after Chief Secretary JP Dange held a meeting to discuss the incident. HT reports

The state on Thursday ordered the BMC to conduct structural audits of all dilapidated buildings in Kurla’s Quresh Nagar where a four storeyed building collapsed late on Wednesday, killing a six year old boy and rendering about 50 families homeless. The directive came after Chief Secretary JP Dange held a meeting to discuss the incident.

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The BMC has no records of Building No 1 inside Rafiq Estate compound, which collapsed. Locals and civic officials said the structure is illegal. “There are no records or documents about this building. It is illegally built,” an official said.

Across the city, there are innumerable illegal structures like those in Rafiq Estate, which are built with iron beam supported frames instead of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) frames that are more stable.

At least 450 people live in 10 such four storeyed buildings in Rafiq Estate, which are supported by corroded iron beams.

“The owner has added floors on an already dilapidated foundation. The floors are supported by weak beams and are death traps,” said Hasan Qureshi, resident of Building No 2 in Rafiq Estate, which is one such structure.

The buildings also put those who live in the Ismail Piran Budan chawl at risk as they surround the ground plus mezzanine floor chawl.

On Wednesday night, when the building collapsed, the victims were those who lived in the chawl.