Mumbai:At least 19 people lost their lives after a four-storey building in Mumbai's Kurla collapsed on Monday night, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) informed on Tuesday.
A fire brigade team as well as the police officials rushed to the spot as soon as the accident was notified. Teams of the fire brigade and the NDRF were engaged in the search and rescue operations at the site along with civic staff and police later in the day. Around a dozen fire engines were deployed at the spot besides two rescue vans and other fire brigade equipment, a fire official told the sources.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Additional Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said the collapsed building was dilapidated, since 2013, notices had been first given for its repair, and then for its demolition. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Potnis said, "In 2016, the building was listed under the C1 category. Later, following an audit, it was reclassified under C2. It should have been repaired, but it wasn't. I, however, don't think there has been negligence on part of BMC." On Monday night, Minister Aaditya Thackeray visited Kurla where the building collapsed and said that such property should be vacated on the notice of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). "Whenever BMC issues notices, (buildings) should be vacated themselves...otherwise, such incidents happen, which is unfortunate...It's now important to take action on this," Thackeray said.
NDRF commandant Anupam Srivastava said two of their teams were involved in the search and rescue work at the building. A connected wing of the building was also in a dilapidated condition and likely to collapse, and its residents were shifted out, a civic official said. "Even prosecution for-non compliance was initiated. Later, the residents got the structural audit redone and got the building categorised as repairable, but didn't carry out the repairs," said the official, who visited the spot on Tuesday and reviewed the search and rescue operation. Bhide said despite the BMC's continuous efforts to vacate the building, people had continued to stay there. The building residents had even given an undertaking that they would stay there at their risk and cost, she said.
