Twelve dead including seven children, 21 injured and rescued in the Bhiwandi building collapse

In the year of August 2016, there were two sorrowful Sunday happened in Bhiwandi. On August 8, Mahadev Gupta building collapsed, eight killed while several injured. On August 1, 2016, another Kabir Sheth building collapsed in which eight people were killed and 22 were injured. 

@NarendraJourno1

Bhiwandi: Twelve people died including seven children (aged 2 to 14 years), while 21 others sustained injuries and were rescued after the three-storied Jilani apartment building collapsed in Dhamankar Naka area of Bhiwandi city near Mumbai in the wee hours of Monday.

Authorities managed to rescue 21 persons with the help of locals, NDRF, TDRF and local fire bridge team. The rescue operations which began at 4 am are expected to continue in the night at the collapsed building site in Bhiwandi. The injured people were shifted to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGM) hospital, Kalwa hospital and other three to four private hospitals for treatment.

Jilani Apartment was constructed in the year of 1984 and the 36-year-old building was a ground plus three storied building. There were 16 flats on each floor of the building. A total of 48 flats were built by the builder Sayyed Jilani. 

The ground floor of the building had a fully set up power loom and the remaining building was residential. The half portion of the building came crashing down at around 3.45 pm on Monday. The residents on the floors above were fast asleep while the workers in the power loom on the ground floor managed to escape without giving any intimation to any residents above, said Ibrahim Ansari (22), who resides at the third floor.

A total of 24 flats which is a half portion of the structure of the building have collapsed and the remaining part which is left standing is in a dangerous condition now. The building was adjacent to another ground plus three-storied building, the civic body has now evacuated all residential from there. Nearly two residential buildings which were occupied surrounding the collapsed building were evacuated by the civic body. Arrangements for the stay of the victims of a collapsed building were made at a nearby madrassa. The locals are providing breakfast to the affected family members.

The TDRF officials while speaking on condition of anonymity stated that due to the heavy showers the rescue operations were hampered. The rescuers could not get any idea of how to remove the debris as the building was constructed in the too congested area.

In August 2016, there were two sorrowful Sunday’s in Bhiwandi. On August 8, Mahadev Gupta building collapsed killing eight people while several others were injured. On August 1, 2016, another Kabir Sheth building collapsed killing eight people and left 22 injured. 

Eknath Shinde, Thane district guardian minister visited the spot. A final notice was served by BNCMC in February but the residents did not evacuate the building. So far, 102 buildings have been evacuated by the civic body. We have talked to CM about the tragic incident that the Rs 5 lakh compensation would be given to deceased family members.

Leader of opposition in Legislative Council, Pravin Darekar said, “The administration should declare the list of the dilapidated buildings across the Bhiwandi city and Bhiwandi taluka as well. They should use the SRA plan method when the building dilapidated. The civic body only has given notice for evacuation; this is not a permanent solution”.

Also Read: Three siblings and their father rescued alive after 9 hours from the debris

An activist Kamankar Dhurukar from Bhiwandi said,” More than 500 building illegal construction in the last five years. We are worried about the next 500 buildings as these kinds of incidents would not happen again. The ground plus seven-building was constructed in Bhiwandi in illegal ways. 

Thane district collector Rajesh Narvekar visited the spot and inspection the rescued work carried by agencies. Narvekar while speaking to the news 21, “We are investigating the matter. We will take strict action against those who are responsible for this tragedy.”

Rajkumar Shinde DCP of Zone 2 of Thane commissionerate said, “So far we have registered a case against Sayyed Ahmad Jilani who is builder under section 337, 338, 304(2) of Indian Penal Code. 

Earlier, the Patel compound came under the gram panchayat administration. The building had not the formation of society since 1984 and the building had taken permission from gram panchayat.

Saba Ansari (30) a resident of Jilani building said, “I reside along with my family on the third floor for the last 15 years. The few members of the builder had taken a maintenance charge of Rs 40000 each flat as repairing work in a building for the last three year. But they had used an inferior quality of sand, cement and other raw material which led after one year the building developed some cracks”.

Commissioner Pankaj Ashiya, BNCMC said, “There were a total of 107 buildings in the list of dangerous and very dangerous. Out of 107 buildings, 102 have already been evacuated while three-building have court stay order and two buildings are having evacuation orders from the BNCMC.

The deceased were identified as Zuber Qureshi (30), Fayza Qureshi (5), Aaysha Qureshi (7), Babbu (27), Fatma Zuber Babu (2), Fatma Zuber Qureshi (8), Uzeb Zuber (6), Asqa Abid Ansari (14), Danish Ansari (12) Siraj Ahmad Shaikh (28), Nazo Nasari (26), and Sanny Mulla Shaikh (75). They all have been taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGM) in Bhiwandi.-By Narendra Gupta