54 bldgs declared dangerous in Borivali, 33 already razed

 

The BMC is also awaiting court clearance for the demolition of 13 other dilapidated buildings which need to be pulled down urgently. These buildings were declared dangerous by following the due process of law. Of the 54 buildings, 53 are private while one belongs to the BMC

Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared 54 buildings in Borivali’s R (central) ward ‘dilapidated’ and ‘dangerous’ as per its C1 category of classifying structures. Thirty-three of these structures have already been razed to the ground while three more—Jalaram Nagar and Sangeeta CHS in Borivali West and Laxmi Nivas in Borivali East—will face the bulldozer after Diwali. Five have been issued notices for demolition.

The BMC is also awaiting court clearance for the demolition of 13 other dilapidated buildings which need to be pulled down urgently. These buildings were declared dangerous by following the due process of law. Of the 54 buildings, 53 are private while one belongs to the BMC.

The audit which declared the buildings dangerous was done in the wake of the collapse of a building called Gitanjali in August. Gitanjali was only one of many buildings that crashed during the monsoon—indeed, while the pre-monsoon list in April comprised only 20 buildings, the number jumped to 54 by October by the time the monsoon was over. The casualties during the rains led to the R (central) ward taking up the issue on a war footing and directing all private buildings above 30 years to conduct structural audits and submit them to the BMC.

Prakash Vichare, currently the acting assistant commissioner, R (central) ward, told HT that the alarming jump in dilapidated buildings had led the BMC going all out to sensitise citizens to the issue and convince them to shift out. “Many are naturally worried about their homes going but we stress the importance of them safeguarding their lives,” he said.

Vichare added that the BMC did this not just to safeguard residents’ lives but also those of passers-by and adjoining properties. “Of course people are sentimental about their homes, and also fearful about being rendered permanently homeless. Most also have issues about paying rent for new accommodation, so we give them shelter in BMC schools on humanitarian grounds till they find new houses.”

As regards the structural audit reports of 30-plus-year-old buildings, Vichare said that that some reports showed the buildings were repairable. “While some owners of buildings themselves submit reports stating that they fall under the C1 or dangerous category, others maintain that they are not dangerous,” he said. “In that case, we escalate the matter to our technical advisory committee (TAC). When there are two contradictory reports, we send TAC for a field survey, and the final TAC report confirms whether the building is fit for habitation or needs to be vacated and pulled down.”

Vichare said that the BMC did not want a repeat of the Gitanjali building crash which happened on August 19 in Borivali’s Sai Baba Nagar. Families here vacated the building a mere two hours before it crashed after they felt vibrations around 10 am. The BMC is taking all possible steps to ensure that such a touch-and-go situation does not arise, and clearly it is far more successful in this now – the earlier problems that it faced in vacating residents from dilapidated buildings have been gradually overcome, as evidenced by its feat of managing to demolish 33 buildings

The BMC tries to help residents of dilapidated buildings in other ways too, said Vichare. “R (central) ward in Borivali sends a list of tenants to our building proposal department, so that whenever a builder approaches them for redevelopment permissions, we cite certain conditions,” he said. “The builders have to provide the tenants with permanent accommodation, give them a certificate specifying the redeveloped area and ensure that they are not left out of the building plan. This way we ensure that their fear of losing their home subsides.”