The Ghatkopar building collapse opened up the Pandora’s box and raised questions about how much importance we give to our security while residing in dilapidated buildings. Unwanted alterations within the four walls of the original structure cause doom. In the recent building crash more than 17 people died and that is really paining. This four storey structure could not bear the weight of illegal alternations and the collapse was inevitable. The Government of Maharashtra must think and act to save lives of people dying on this count and in view of the fact thousands of such buildings exist in Mumbai and suburbs remain insecure because of structural changes. Unauthorised shifting of beams within the building plan and done over and above the permissible limit is the root cause for all the major building collapse incidents occurring in the city. It is indeed a very sad and shocking incident. Obviously, those who died mostly belonged to different family. My heart goes out to the families of the victims.
Whether, it is pagri system or plain rented or owner occupied loss of life should be avoided. Municipal Corporations should be vested with enough powers by the courts so that such unwanted alternations should be prevented in the beginning before facing the fatal end. The overall control should be vested with building Secretary along with President and Treasurer of the society. BMC should give sanction to such structural changes and it should be approved by the society and the operations should be monitored on a day to day basis.
The Municipal Corporations while issuing notices to the residents of structurally weak buildings should also make alternate temporary shelters to enable them to shift there immediately or else they may face huge hardships. Those people who had alternative accomodation, vacated, left and saved their lives. But those who did not have said sort of arrangement had to compulsorily stay in the said dilapidated building and ultimately paid price with similar tragedies.
The Government of Maharashtra must think and act to save lives of poor people dying on this count and in view of the fact there are thousands of such buildings in Mumbai and suburbs remain insecure for occupation. However, the state of the buildings which are on the verge of collapsing due to their life span has already expired, and still the people live there are risking their own lives. Flat owners should strictly adhere to the rules and the warnings issued to the society. They should use their presence of mind to get out of their flats in time to make sure that they do not fall prey to the building crashes frequently occurring in the metropolis. Unauthorised construction over and above permissible limit is the root cause for all the major building collapse incidents in the city.
Time-bound redevelopment of such dilapidated buildings is a must, otherwise, we will see more lives being lost in Mumbai and suburbs. It is indeed a very sad and shocking incident. Obviously, those who died continued to stay in an illegal building despite municipal warnings, only because they had no other option. Where is affordable housing these days. My heart goes out to the families of the victims.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
