BMC ignored warnings, says NCP corporator

‘Pointed out lack of water outlets in wall’

July 04, 2019 02:47 am | Updated 02:47 am IST - Mumbai

Operations on to rescue residents trapped under the debris at the collapse site in Malad on Wednesday.

Operations on to rescue residents trapped under the debris at the collapse site in Malad on Wednesday.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seems to have ignored warnings about the lack of water outlets in the wall that collapsed in Malad on Monday, claiming 26 lives.

NCP corporator Dhanashree Bharadkar said she had written to the BMC in 2017 pointing out that the wall could collapse as it did not have outlets for storm water to drain out. In her letter to the chief engineer of the storm water drains department, Ms. Bharadkar, said, “It is necessary to build outlets as people died a few years ago when the wall had collapsed. Please ensure water from the reservoir flows out properly. It is important to construct proper box drains here.”

She demanded the creation of three box drains between Ramlila Maidan and Pal Nagar, Malad reservoir and Queen Mary school, and Anandey Nagar and Appapada. Ms. Bharadkar’s husband, Vaibhav, said, “We specifically wrote to the BMC on this matter as we had received complaints from locals as well. But the BMC did nothing. We are a small party in the BMC, so they don’t seem to care.”

The residents of Ambedkar Nagar and Pimpripada slums, located atop a hill in Malad (East), have blamed the BMC for the shoddy construction of the wall. The residents have been living on the land belonging to the forest department for around 40 years. The BMC had taken some land from the forest department in the 80s to build a reservoir to cater to the needs of Malad and nearby areas. A stone wall was built to separate the reservoir from the slums, but the BMC’s hydraulic engineer’s department replaced it with a new 20-foot wall in 2016.

Ramesh Vishwakarma, a resident of Pimpripada, said, “The old wall had large gaps and water from the hill would flow through them into nullahs. But the new concrete wall has no such outlets. That is why the wall broke. It is a design flaw.”

A senior officer from the hydraulic engineer’s department said the BMC would look into measures to prevent such incidents. He said, “Five box drains were built in the wall, including four cross drains and one culvert. But their capacity is limited, around 100 mm. After the 450 mm rainfall, the wall broke. In some places, water has been flowing from above the three-metre wall.” The officer claimed that the slumdwellers had obstructed the drains by inserting bamboo sticks that support their houses.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu called for a judicial enquiry and demanded that the guilty be charged with culpable homicide. BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said the incident is “very serious” and he will look into it.

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