BMC looks at legal option to evacuate privately-owned ‘dangerous’ houses

“We are checking with our Law Department on how to invoke the NDMA on private buildings for prevention and mitigation of disasters. The collapse of these buildings cannot be considered natural disasters. Since many of them are private,we have sought our law department’s views,” Mahesh Narvekar,chief officer,Disaster Management,BMC,told The Indian Express.

Currently,BMC uses the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act of 1888 to discourage citizens from choosing to live in such dangerous structures by cutting off electricity and water supply. The BMC claims to have succeeded in vacating 80 per cent residents.

BMC looks at legal option to evacuate privately-owned ‘dangerous’ houses from its own 153 dilapidated buildings to various transit camps.

On Saturday,a four-storeyed private building in Dahisar (east),collapsed killing seven persons and injuring seven. Though the building had been declared “dangerous and dilapidated” three years ago,it could not be demolished as a case was pending in the Bombay High Court.

The Municipal Commissioner has invoked the NDMA twice this year for averting possible disasters,forcing other government agencies to step up prevention or mitigation efforts.

Last week,the BMC invoked Section 30 of the NDMA to protect Mumbai against an impending disaster when a 23,000-ton oil tanker was found drifting off the Madh Island coast. The vessel carrying 300 tonnes of oil threatened to hit the Bandra-Worli sea link if it continued to drifted in one direction. Any oil spill would also have been an ecological nightmare destroying sea life and mangroves in the neighbouring areas. “We informed the P North assistant municipal commissioner to be on guard. We took the opinion of the law department and invoked NDMA to issue a notice to the Mumbai Port Trust,DG Shipping and the Coast Guard to tow the vessel,” said Narvekar.

Another senior civic official said,“No agency wanted to take responsibility for the ship as a lot of money – roughly Rs 20 crores — was required to tow the vessel.”

The NDMA was also invoked earlier this year when political parties in the BMC sparred with the administration over approving a Rs 22-crore contract for desilting the entire 17.9 km stretch of the Mithi river. Municipal Commissioner Kunte’s decisive action ended a seven-year stalemate between the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority and BMC over the de-silting of a 6km stretch of the river which falls under the jurisdiction of the MMRDA. Ever since the monsoon tragedy on July 26,2005,de-silting of this river is a critical pre-monsoon exercise to mitigate flood-related disasters.