KALYAN: Six people died Tuesday afternoon while 6 were left injured, 2 of them seriously, after a 6-foot-wide concrete slab from a fourth-floor flat in a 31-year-old Kalyan (E) building partially collapsed right to the ground floor. Police suspect that the slab at Saptashrungi building in Karpewadi area collapsed during ongoing flooring repair work in the hall of a flat, reports Pradeep Gupta.
KDMC's deputy municipal commissioner Awdhoot Tawade said while the building was not on the list of 513 dangerous structures in Kalyan-Dombivli, four days ago, KDMC staff had visited it and observed it was not in a fit condition to live in, and asked the building residents to get a structural audit done.
Locals said upon hearing the deafening noise of the crash, they alerted the ward officer as well as the Kolsewadi police, who arrived at the spot within a few minutes.
The six deceased in the Kalyan building's fourth-floor slab collapse have been identified as Pramila Sahu (56) and her daughters Sunita Sahu (38) and Sujata Padhi (32), two-year-old Namashri Shelar and her grandmother's sister Sushila Gujar (78), and Vyankat Chavan (42).
Chavan was one of the two daily wage workers engaged in flooring repair work at the fourth-floor flat. Namashri and her mother were visiting Gujar when tragedy struck. Five of the victims are female and one male, as the incident took place around 1.45pm when most men were out at work. Most residents of the building do odd jobs for a living.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to each family of the deceased. BJP's state executive president Ravindra Chavan visited the spot and instructed KDMC to make temporary arrangements for the stay of all affected families.
Locals said after the incident, the other residents immediately rushed out of the building through the staircase.
The rescue team faced difficulty in reaching the site since the building is situated in the middle of a slum pocket and has no direct access to the road. The team later rescued two injured individuals while six others who were sent to hospitals were declared dead on arrival. The six injured are undergoing treatment at two different private hospitals.
The rescue operation continued until 6.30pm, after which KDMC continued removing belongings of residents with the intention to seal the building thereafter so that it could be demolished to avoid any further mishaps, also considering it is situated in the middle of slums.
Rain caused difficulty during the rescue operation while the police were seen controlling the crowds that had gathered at the site. The building had around 40 flats; most residents lived in their own flats while a few were on rent.
After the incident, KDMC has appealed to residents of the 513 dangerous buildings to vacate or else they will have to use police force. They have also appealed to other buildings like Saptashrungi, which are not on the dangerous buildings list, to get a structural audit done immediately. Kalyanji Ghete, assistant commissioner of police, said, "Six persons died and six are injured. The process of registration of an accidental death report is also on. The team will record residents' statements to find out the reason behind the accident, and as per the findings, further action will be taken."
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