3 dangerous buildings razed in Ulhasnagar
After Bhiwandi building collapsed killing 38 people, the Ulhasanagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) has started demolition of dilapidated buildings in its jurisdiction. On Saturday, the UMC demolished three buildings after the court vacated the stay on demolition of dangerous buildings.
The civic body has a total of 153 structures in dangerous condition, out of which 33 are extremely dangerous. All the 33 buildings have been vacated, claimed the authorities.
The corporation, on Saturday, had demolished three out of the 33 extremely dangerous structures including Humlog Apartment near Jhulelal Mandir in Ulhasnagar 1, Shanti Palace Apartment behind Yatri Niwas, Ulhasnagar 2 and Om Shiv Ganga Apartment near Venus Lal Chakki Road, Ulhasnagar 4.
Ganesh Shimpi, assistant municipal commissioner of UMC, said, “In the first phase, we carried out a demolition of three buildings. After a while, the others buildings will be demolished soon. All the dangerous buildings were given prior notice. Even if the buildings are vacant, the lives of residences in the neighbouring buildings are at risk. Ulhasnagar being densely populated, in case any of the dangerous building collapses, it will risk the lives of people staying nearby.”
The UMC had also appealed to the citizens to carry out the structural audit of their buildings at the earliest and carry out the necessary repair work if any.
Shashikant Dyma, 52, a social activist from Ulhasnagar, claimed that around 27 to 28 people died in building collapse incidents in the last 10 years. Dyma said, “The authorities don’t take any effort in carrying out a survey of dangerous buildings. If an incident of wall or plaster collapse takes place in a building, only then it is declared dangerous. All the 33 buildings have been declared dangerous for the same reason. No building is declared dangerous on the basis of structural audit.”
He alleged that despite the claims of the corporation that all buildings have been evacuated, residents still continue to stay in three or four such structures “as the city does not have transit camps to rehabilitate the residents”.