Ahead of the monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has identified 485 buildings that are in a dilapidated condition.
Incidents of building collapse have become frequent mishaps over the years. During monsoon last year, a residential building in South Mumbai’s Colaba had collapsed, claiming ten lives. Earlier, in 2019, a building in Dongri had collapsed, claiming 13 lives.
According to civic officials, 34 of the 485 buildings identified are municipal structures, 27 are government owned and 424 are private buildings. BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal has ordered that strict action be taken against encroachments as per the Emergency Management Act of the BMC, by reviewing the dangerous buildings in all the 24 municipal wards.
Officials said the local ward officers have been notified to carry out task of identifying the buildings and getting the details of structural repairs from those living in the buildings.
“We have told ward officers to check the records of the buildings and to see if any building has any repair dues. If a building is in a very dilapidated state, then structure audit could also be suggested,” said an official.
Officials also maintained that so far, the civic body has demolished as many as 148 endangered buildings and out of the 485 identified buildings they have cut electric and water supply in as many as 112 buildings.
“We have found out that people are continuing to stay in buildings, that we have marked as endangered. Despite asking them to relocate they are not moving which is why we have to take such steps,” the official said.
He mentioned in many buildings which are in a dilapidated condition, the owners lease out their property in long term basis, during this time the responsibility of the space stays on the tenant, and if there is any accident, it is the tenant who face most of the loss.
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