Following a procedural pre-monsoon structural audit of buildings in the city, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority has listed 11 buildings as “extremely dangerous” and unfit to be in
Following a procedural pre-monsoon structural audit of buildings in the city, the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority has listed 11 buildings as “extremely dangerous” and unfit to be inhabited during monsoon, and notified occupants to vacate them immediately. MHADA has declared that these buildings are in such bad shape that they have outlived the possibility of restructuring and redevelopment.
Significantly, Esplanade Mansion happens to be one of the 11 buildings, which has continued to top the list of “extremely dangerous” buildings for the past whole decade. And yet, it has not undergone any redevelopment and continues to be occupied by residents and offices. To deal with unresponsive residents, housing minister Prakash Mehta has announced that a new law is in the pipeline which favours the government vis-à-vis residents who go to court when asked to vacate buildings. “We cannot resort to forceful eviction but being the government, we cannot wash our hands off the responsibility of people, should some disaster strike. The government cannot say it did its job simply by notifying occupants about the dilapidated condition of their building. So, we have framed a law,” he said.
“There are presently 14,500 such buildings in the city, of which, over 5,000 are under private ownership, and the question of MHADA declaring them as ‘dilapidated’ does not arise. Such buildings have been asked to conduct their own periodic structural audits,-" he added.
