Mumbai building was to be demolished in 2012, government puts blame on private builder

Shocking details of negligence have emerged after a 100-year-old four-storey building collapsed in south Mumbai's crowded Dongri area, killing at least 12 people. According to reports, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) chairman Uday Samant admitted that the building should have been demolished in 2012.

Samant, also a lawmaker from the Ratnagiri-Sangmeshwar constituency, said that the contract to demolish the 10-year-old building was given to a private contractor. "Strict action will be taken, no one will be spared...the developer and our officials should have seen the work," Samant said.

The MHADA said that it had given a no objection certificate to the builder for the redevelopment of the building in 2012. The BMC had also asked its residents to vacate the building in 2017.

“Building is classified as 'C1', to be evacuated for demolition at the earliest...In event of any mishap this office won't be responsible,” a letter sent by the BMC and shared by ANI news agency said. However, the MHADA didn’t mention the building in the list of dangerous buildings issued before monsoons in 2019.

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Twelve persons were killed after a four-storey residential building collapsed in south Mumbai's congested Dongri area, trapping over 40 people under the debris, civic officials said. TV channels showed dramatic visuals of a child, wrapped in a cloth bundle, being carried out of the debris by rescue workers. The child is alive, officials said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has opened a shelter at Imamwada Municipal Secondary Girls’ School after the building collapse, a civic official said.

"A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is reaching the spot. We are assuming that 10 to 12 families are still under the debris," PTI quoted Mumbadevi MLA Amin Patel as saying.