The Jilani building crash in Bhiwandi has come seven years after a structure collapsed at Mumbra’s Lucky Compound, killing 76 people. It is Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s worst building crash.
Bhiwandi-Nizampur municipal commissioner Pankaj Ashiya told the internal civic probe has revealed the Jilani building was constructed in 1984 as a ground-plus-one-storey structure, when it was under the purview of Dhamankar Gram Panchayat. Two more floors were built illegally in 2006.
Most of the bodies recovered on Wednesday were of firstfloor residents.
The first and second floors of the building had caved into the soil following the crash and only the flattened third floor was at the ground level. Rescuers managed to reach the first floor on the third day of digging.
Meanwhile, Mumbai’s guardian minister Aslam Shaikh visited the site on Wednesday to inspect the relief work. He also met Ashiya and discussed the issue of unauthorized and dangerous buildings in the city. Shaikh told mediapersons that “soon a concrete policy decision” on the issue will be taken at the state government level.
Ashiya ordered all his ward officers to prepare a fresh list of “dangerous and very dangerous buildings” across the city and submit the details so that these can be evacuated. Ashiya told: “I have ordered all my ward officers to prepare a fresh list of dangerous and very dangerous buildings so that the civic committee that I have formed following the crash can give its report within a week and further steps can be taken.”
BNMC officials said they had prepared a list of 107 such structures in January, of which 102 have already been vacated and eight demolished.
Deepak Sawant, deputy municipal commissioner, BNMC, said, “Along with 107 buildings under the dangerous and very dangerous category, we also have a list of 220 other structures that require minor repairs. The civic body had already alerted their owners and residents last month about the repairs.”
Narpoli police said builder Sayyed Jilani is on the run. Maloji Shinde, senior police inspector of Narpoli police station, said, “Our team is searching for the accused.”
Jilani is said to be a known spiritual leader who has several properties in Bhiwandi.