Two people were reported dead after a slab of a commercial building in central Matunga collapsed late Tuesday night. No other injuries were reported.
Two people were reported dead after a slab of a commercial building in central Matunga collapsed late Tuesday night. No other injuries were reported. The building no 2 on Bhandarkar Road is a ground and three storey structure which has been leased out to a private coaching class, a private lodge, and Canara Bank. The owner of the building, Shanti Dhedia runs a jewellery store on the ground floor, called Dagina Jewellers.
While the two dead have been identified as homeless persons sleeping on the footpath in the night, the incident has angered the tenants, who blame the accident on the landlord’s negligence of notices from the BMC, to vacate the ‘dilapidated’ structure.
While officials from the BMC have confirmed that the building does not feature in the list of ‘dangerous structures’, a civic official said, “We can only confirm the status of the building after we conduct a structural audit. Then we will also be able to determine if the slab was illegal, according to the claims of tenants and shop keepers.”
Meanwhile, the building has reported several incidents of a short circuit previously and the latest one was reported on last Friday.
C.N. James, who runs a small photostat shop on the ground floor of the building said, “I reported the fire incident to the fire brigade last Friday, even as the owner was unwilling to call them. He wanted to control the fire with the help of in-house equipment. We do not even have fire exits, and a single narrow staircase is the only access to the building.”
About 300 school students are enrolled in the Mahesh Tutorials, which runs on the second floor of the building. All students were present when the fire broke out last Friday. Priyanka Vyas, who is the administration in-charge at Mahesh Tutorials said, “We have a fire extinguisher. When we learnt of the fire, our office boys rushed downstairs to douse it. We opened all windows and told our students not to panic. Later, we let them out in pairs, after the fire was doused.” The classes will remain closed this week, following the incident.
However, Manohar Lodge, which has about 19 rooms on the third floor does not have a fire extinguisher. The owner Manohar Shetty said, “The building ought to undergo redevelopment but the owner has to do it. He is unwilling to give us permission even to fix trivial problems like roof leakages.”
The owner Shantilal Dhedia was unavailable for comment, and his jewellery story was closed on Wednesday. The Matunga police, have not lodged a complaint yet, and are awaiting a report from the BMC and fire brigade.
