BMC razes ‘high-rise’ slums in Behrampada amid opposition

The MCGM on Saturday, demolished illegal slum structures from the area next to Bandra Skywalk in Behrampada, Bandra East. (Photo: Mrugesh Bandiwadekar)

Amid some opposition from the residents of Behrampada in Bandra and stiff police bandobast, the BMC started demolition of four houses in the area where an illegal building collapsed claiming lives of six children on Thursday.

The civic body managed to demolish only four out of the five floors of these structures mainly because the lanes of Behrampada are too narrow for any machinery to be carried close to the buildings and around 40 workers had to manually pull down the four floors.

Assistant municipal commissioner of H East ward, Prashant Gaikwad, said, “Our men took hammers and pulled down the floors one by one. We had to cut off electricity supply in the entire area. Even though we faced some opposition from residents in the beginning, most were concerned about their houses having become weak and the very real possibility of them collapsing one day. So, they let us work.”

The H East civic ward has managed to partially demolish a total of five houses in Behrampada, all of which are located around the structure that collapsed on Thursday. These buildings were all built as “high rises” above the permissible height of 14 feet. However, Mr Gaikwad confirmed these five were not among the 300 surveyed by H East ward before the monsoons. “Twelve out of the 300 were located in Prabhat Colony, and we demolished them before the monsoons,” he said.