Rickety and ready to fall

Following each tragedy,the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) cites various factors and causes of concern. The reasons attributed by the BMC for collapses are usually out of its ambit or are difficult to control.

Unlike the previous collapses,however,the Babu Genu Market building — housing 22 families and a civic market on its ground floor — was a legal structure owned by the BMC,and it had been classified as dilapidated and urgently in need of repairs. Faced with questions on why the Rs 28,000-crore cash rich civic administration sat on a proposal to repair the structure for over a year,BMC departments have been passing the buck to each other.

While the BMC was quick to book an owner and a tenant for alleged alterations to the structure in the Aftab Manzil collapse in Mahim,which claimed 10 lives in June,it has given itself a clean chit and feigned ignorance of illegal alterations that were carried out in the Babu Genu market building. In a damage control exercise,it has also lodged a complaint against the ground-floor tenant for illegal alterations. With pressure mounting to fix accountability for the collapse,the civic body suspended seven officials and ordered an inquiry against 11 others more than 48 hours after the tragedy.

The municipal building was categorised as C-2 (B), which meant it needed urgent repairs. In March,the civic administration set aside Rs 1.25 crore for its repairs. More than five months after the BMC found out that the building needed urgent repairs,a civic team inspected the structure. While the blame game for the delay in repair work is now being played out between the civic Markets department that owns the building and the Planning & Design department that prepares cost estimates and floats tenders for such repairs,the BMC has admitted that there were delays in taking action.

A proposal to repair a civic-owned building involves around 60 processes,said civic officials. The proposal passes through at least 10 departments before a tender for repairs is floated. Blaming civic officials,Mayor Sunil Prabhu cites lack of prompt action. However,there is no deadline stipulated for each process,and ambiguity on the official to be held accountable. “If officials had acted more promptly,these lives could have been saved. The funds meant for such building repairs are set aside but most of these are never utilised,” said Prabhu.

While the recent collapse has left the BMC red-faced,it has brought under the scanner years of delay in implementing crucial policies for the safety of those living in dilapidated buildings,proposals stuck in red tape,inaction and indecision by civic officials.

An expert panel of structural engineers formed to audit dilapidated structures has been defunct since 2006. Following the Laxmi Chhaya building collapse in Borivali,which claimed 29 lives and injured 17,the panel was formed to audit dilapidated structures. In the last few years,however,it has passed the onus of structural audits on housing societies or owners of rickety structures. Following the collapse on Friday,the civic administration quickly stated that it will revitalise the panel to ensure that the structural audits are conducted for dilapidated buildings.

After the privately-owned Aftab Manzil collapsed in June,the BMC had promised to ensure a structural audit of all dilapidated buildings and evict the residents. Three months on,the BMC allowed more than 94 people to live in the dilapidated Babu Genu building in Mazgaon.

In June,civic chief Sitaram Kunte had directed a structural audit for all dilapidated buildings. On June 13,he set a one-month deadline for housing societies to get an audit done if their buildings were older than 30 years. According to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act,while it is mandatory for residents to carry out structural audits of their buildings,no provisions for penalties have been made in case of non-compliance.

Despite the spate of collapses in the last four months,only 198 of 35,079 buildings over 30 years old have complied with the BMC’s directive and submitted their audit reports.

The civic administration has been blaming private societies for failing to conduct structural audits but it has yet not completed structural audits of 3,000-odd civic buildings. While delays in implementing repairs and rehabilitation of residents of dilapidated buildings is one lacuna,the credibility of structural audits and surveys of dilapidated buildings is another.

Typically,the civic administration classifies dilapidated buildings under C-1,C-2 and C-3 categories but absence of parameters results in officials arbitrarily and wrongly categorising buildings.

In 2006,the corporation sought the help of structural engineers from IIT Bombay to evaluate the levels of dilapidation. Thus came about the ‘C1’,‘C2’,and ‘C3’ categories. While ‘C1’ buildings are deemed extremely dangerous and unfit for habitation requiring immediate evacuation,those classified as ‘C2(A)’ and ‘C2(B)’ require major structural repairs that may necessitate temporary rehabilitation of residents. ‘C3’ buildings call for some major repairs as a preventive measure. According to the latest civic data,across the city’s 24 wards,there are 72 ‘C1’ civic-owned buildings,of which 18 are yet to be vacated,63 ‘C2’ category buildings and 22 ‘C3’ category buildings.

The 33-year-old Babu Genu market building was classified as ‘C2 (B)’,raising doubts over the classification exercise as a structural audit by private consultants Pentacle (India) Pvt Ltd in November last year unequivocally stated that it was in need of immediate extensive repair and evacuation.

Senior civic officials said the pre-monsoon classification exercise mainly involves visual inspection by the executive engineer of the ward and the executive engineer of the Planning & Design (P&D) department.

Admitting to this,chief engineer of the P&D department,S Bhattacharji said,“Classification of buildings is mainly done on the basis of visual inspection. We do not have the resources to carry out comprehensive structural audits of all structures every few years. Based on the findings of the visual inspection by civic officers in the ward and P&D department,and the demands of residents,a structural audit may be taken up to determine the building’s status.”

For the current financial year,the BMC has made a provision of roughly Rs 1 crore for structural audits of various civic-owned properties.

The primary lacuna identified in the BMC after the collapse is the absence of a system of follow-ups. Once a building is classified as C1,C2 or C3,apart from a sporadic check to see if residents have vacated the structures judged as ‘highly dilapidated and dangerous’,there are no procedures to see if the owners of buildings requiring major structural repairs are abiding by the warning.

“After we realised that there is no proper system to ensure correct classification and follow-up repairs of dilapidated buildings,the BMC will now prepare a detailed methodology for tackling this issue,” said Rajiv Jalota,Acting Municipal Commissioner.

Another threat that both the state government and BMC are loathe to admit is the ghost of the $4.6-million cement scam of 1980s in Maharashtra under the then Congress CM A R Antulay. It is believed that the effects of the scam are now haunting the city. “There is always a doubt about the stability and safety of buildings older than 30 years as they were constructed during that period,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Mohan Adtani.

Even findings in the Babu Genu structural audit report refer to “poor construction materials” as one of the main causes for deterioration. After its collapse,the BMC re-initiated the audit of 85 civic-owned properties categorised as C2,and C3 and ordered a fresh survey of civic buildings over 30 years. It is unclear if these are again restricted to visual inspection,or also include structural audit reports.

A major reason for the lackadaisical approach to structural audits is the lack of options for transit accommodation for residents. Even if the BMC manages to evict residents from its dilapidated structures,little alternative accommodation is available for rehabilitation. Of the 2,965 staff quarters available for civic employees,2,768 are already occupied. Among the rest,87 are dilapidated and in need of repairs urgently,while 64 have been demolished and yet to be reconstructed. This leaves only 46 flats available for rehabilitation.

Most of these available tenements are located in Chembur,Ghatkopar,Mankhurd and Mahul in the outskirts of Mumbai’s eastern suburbs,roughly 20 km from most of the 157 civic-owned dilapidated buildings that are concentrated in the island city.

Residents complain that many of these transit buildings,which the civic body has deemed structurally fit,are ill-maintained and in a state of disrepair.

Most tenants and staff who are shifted to transit accommodation have no surety of either a permanent home or of a time period within which they will be shifted back. Most of the 6,000-odd conservancy workers engaged in sweeping the city’s streets and shifting garbage to dumping grounds housed in the 86 colonies have refused to move to transit camps fearing that they might lose ownership of their homes.

“Workers have been living in transit camps for over 35 years in hope that the BMC will give them ownership of the staff quarters. But the redevelopment of their staff quarters has been delayed for decades,” said Ashok Jadhav,assistant general secretary of the Municipal Mazdoor Union.

For instance,144 families of conservancy workers,who were earlier staying in staff quarters in Fort,were moved to transit camps in Dharavi 12 years ago,but are yet to get new houses from BMC. Although the civic administration has now been forcing eviction of tenants and owners of privately owned dilapidated buildings by threatening to cut off their electricity and water connections,it has failed to remove its own staff from BMC buildings.

Like previous collapses,this incident too attracted hordes of politicians,including CM Prithviraj Chavan,Minister of State for Urban Development Uday Sawant,local MLAs and corporators. However,politicians do not seem to be taking the issue seriously.

While Shiv Sena corporator Yamini Jadhav claimed that she knew of the illegalities in the ground floor of the structure and had made repeated complaints to the civic administration,residents said she had not alerted them or asked them to leave.

Markets committee chairman and Congress corporator Sabareddy Bora,who had visited the structure in August,did not order the BMC to speed up repairs. He claimed that he did not know that the building needed repairs. “I would have alerted the residents if I knew of the danger,” said Bora.