Illegal slums in Behrampada, Bandra, on Friday. (Photo: Mrugesh Bandiwadekar)

The Behrampada building collapse tragedy, which claimed the lives of six children and seriously injured five others on Thursday, has prompted the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to act outside its jurisdiction and begin demolition of about 750 precarious shanties in the Bandra area. The demolition is set to begin on Saturday.

While the BMC maintains that it is the MMRDA’s (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority) as well as the railways’ responsibility to demolish illegal shanties as the land belongs to them, it is hoping the two government bodies will contribute to the operation. Once the drive is complete, the BMC will write to the MMRDA to recover demolition charges from it, civic sources from the H East ward said.

The BMC had written to the MMRDA in July, stating that several illegal high-rise shanties had cropped up in the Bandra area, and were in a precarious condition. However, the BMC claims the MMRDA took no action.

In a survey conducted by the BMC, about 300 illegal multi-storey structures in the Behrampada area were marked and the civic body was planning to demolish them after the monsoon. However, apart from those 300, an official from the H East ward said there are about 750 illegal multi-storey structures out of a total of 1,100 shanties in Bandra area alone.

Assistant municipal commissioner of the H East ward, Prashant Gaikwad said, “Even though we will start work tomorrow, it will take us several months to demolish 750 shanties. The lanes are very narrow and there is not enough space to for machines to enter. All demolition work will be done manually.”

Meanwhile, the BMC vacated five buildings around the collapsed house on Thursday, and will demolish these buildings with priority. It fears that these structures may also be unsound, due to the impact of Thursday’s building collapse.

Mr Gaikwad said the BMC would be able to demolish up to five houses per day as he plans to borrow labour on contract with adjoining wards. “We are hoping MMRDA and railways will also lend us labour. We will have to use a hammer and break down one wall at a time, floor wise, starting from the top floor,” he said.