Three labourers killed in slab collapse at SRA building in Malad

The data furnished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) showed that the incident was reported at 12.09 pm on Thursday at Navjeevan building, situated in Malad east’s Govind Nagar. The tragedy struck when a portion of slab on the 20th floor of the ground-plus-23 storey saleable SRA building–during the course of a routine concreting work–caved in and came crashing on six labourers–all of whom were working on different floors of the building.

Speaking to The Indian Express, an official from the Slum Rehabilitation Authority said, “Two labourers were working on the final concreting work of the slab on the 20th floor. Meanwhile, right beneath that, two other labourers were working to remove the pipe connected to the pump of the RMC plant. While yanking and removing the pipe, the clamp came out and owing to the sudden pressure, the propping came off as well. Owing to this pressure, a part of the slab on which two labourers were standing collapsed and fell on the other two labourers right beneath it.”

When the slab–along with four labourers as well as slurry, concreting material came crashing down, it fell on other labourers who were working beneath, leaving two more labourers injured.

Of the six victims, three were declared dead when they were taken to Malad’s M W Desai Hospital, while other three labourers were injured.

The deceased have been identified as Gopal Banika Modi (32), Sohan Jachil Rothe (26) and Vinod Keshav Sadar (26). Meanwhile, the injured have been identified as Rupsan Mamin (30), Jalil Rahim Shaikh (45) and Mohammad Kalamuddin Shaikh (30). While Rupsan has been admitted in the ICU, Jalil is admitted at the ortho ward.

Meanwhile, Kalamuddin Shaikh has been transferred to Cooper hospital for further treatment.

Recounting the day, Md Kalamuddin’s wife Raila Khatoon (28) said that the day had begun like any other at 6 am, for Kalamuddin and other labourers on site, before the tragedy struck on Thursday noon.

Raila Khatoon told Express, “He was involved with working on slab levelling and had been working on the construction site for the past one-and-a-half years. On Thursday, he left home at 6 am. When the incident occurred, he was standing on the slab which collapsed as he was carrying out his routine levelling works. He has sustained injuries all over the body and has been shifted to Cooper Hospital.”

A native of West Bengal, Kalamuddin Shaikh is the sole breadwinner of the family. “We have three young children and the youngest is only six months old. He was the only earning member of our family.

Now, with him having incurred such serious injuries, we do not know how we will feed ourselves and survive. While we hope that the authorities provide us with some aid, we have not heard from anyone so far,” said Raila.

Meanwhile, the SRA official said the developer has been issued a stop-work notice at the construction site. “We have stopped all construction work on the site immediately. The police are further investigating the matter,” said the official.