Panel had warned BMC of cavein?

Corporators, who visited Wadala site 2 weeks ago, had pointed out that the shoddy work was leading to soil erosion

MUMBAI:TWO weeks before a landslide at Dosti Realty plot in Wadala caused the wall of adjoining Lloyd Estate to cave-in on June 25, the civic body’s civil works committee had warned officials of dangers to nearby buildings owing to the shoddy construction work done by the developers at the site.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) works committee, which consists of 36 councillors, had visited the spot on June 6.

The committee had directed civic officials to take necessary action against the ongoing work at the Dosti Realty plot.

The BMC civil works committee gives administrative approvals to civil construction works. The committee had visited the landslide spot to check the construction site which had choked the drains, leading to water-logging in the area.

Arundhati Dudhwadkar, Shiv Sena corporator and chairman of the civil works committee (city), said, “The visit was because of water-logging in the area, caused by the construction at the Dosti Realty plot. We had pointed out the problems caused by the shoddy construction work to local ward officials who were present during the visit.”

Sufiyan Vanu, local Congress corporator and member of the civil works committee, said the site had a cement concrete plant, which had chocked the drains. Vanu said, “We had warned the ward officials that the soil underneath was giving away owing to the construction work. The illegal cement plant and the defective shore piling work led to the untoward incident [on June 25]. The residents have been complaining about the problems caused by the construction work for the past one year.”

Vanu also said the BMC building proposals department is “clearly responsible” for the incident as they “failed to act upon the complaints”.

The landslide at Dosti’s construction site had caused the compound wall of the neighbouring Lloyd Estate to collapse on June 25, crushing at least six cars

in the process.

This had forced authorities to evict residents from the building.

Blaming Dosti Realty’s work for the landslide and the cave-in, residents of Lloyd Estate had filed an FIR against the developer and

BMC for negligence.

Meanwhile, corporators in the general body meeting on Friday demanded an independent inquiry and suspension of concerned officials whose negligence led to this incident.