After landslide,locals,BMC spar over who’ll repair building

Rama Maruti Suke (22),a worker,was crushed under the debris and died on the spot,while Mohammad Shamim (23) and Manoj Kumar Mishra (24) suffered injuries. Shamim is critical and is admitted to the civic-run Nair Hospital.

“Unless we get any help from either the state government or the BMC we will not be able to return to our homes. How long will we have to wait until we can shift back safely to our homes?” said Paresh Shah (58),a resident.

“As landslide is a natural disaster,the state government should help us in repairing the damaged portion of the building. So far,neither the BMC nor the Collector’s office has offered to repair the structure,” said Atul Parekh,chairman of the Villard View.

While the BMC claims that the basic survey of the building was done by its structural engineers,the task of undertaking a detailed survey to repair the building and the precautionary measures in that case should be done by the building owners as it is a private building. “The responsibility of BMC is to provide immediate relief in a disaster situation. The long-term repair and construction is not the civic body’s job,” said P R Masurkar,Assistant Municipal Commissioner.

While the residents claimed that part of the hillock is the Collector’s property,both the local corporator and civic administration said the hillock and the retaining wall fall in the private plot of the Villard View building and the adjoining Landmark building. “The hillock belongs to both the housing societies,which shared the retaining wall. Of which one is the Villard View and the other is Landmark Building. We are going to approach MHADA to construct the retaining wall as it is their responsibility to help in repair work in hilly areas,” said Arvind Bane,BJP corporator.

The hillock fell from a considerable height,pushing the retaining wall onto the building. “The columns of the building have been damaged from one section. Unless some expert structural engineers along with geo-technical engineers inspect the site,any movement will be risky. The building should now engage their own structural engineers to inspect and repair the damage,” said Masurkar. “The only compensation is for loss of lives,which is Rs 1 lakh,” said Principal Secretary J S Saharia.