A 26-year-old man died after the rear portion of a private two storey residential building collapsed in Ghatkopar (East) on Sunday. The victim,Dattaram Jadhav,was sleeping in the ground floor of the building when the floors above him collapsed around 4 am. Jadhav worked as a servant in some houses of the building and had been living there since childhood. The building which was 60-years-old was home to 30 families. The building,Shakuntala Bhavan,had been declared dilapidated by the BMC in 2006. Several eviction orders had also been given by the BMC to the landlord and the residents,according to BMC officials. Most of the families had vacated the building some weeks back while 3-4 families chose to stay back,said Daksha Amlani,a resident of the building. Most of the residents had shifted to nearby buildings and Jadhav used to work in those houses. He would later come and sleep in the empty room in one part of the building, Amlani said. A demolition order had also been given for the building to the landlord in 2006,said a BMC official. We have been telling the landlord that the building should be repaired and had even agreed to get the repair done ourselves, said Nayan Jani,a resident. But the landlord did not agree, Jani said. The landlord who used to live in the same building left the site after the collapse and is apparently absconding, Jani added. A police complaint has been lodged by the residents. At present,all families have been provided temporary accommodation in the nearby municipal school and the demolition work will start in the next 2-3 days, said a BMC official.
