Building owner held after collapse kills 17
Kashmir separatists held
MUMBAI, July 26, (Agencies): Indian police arrested the owner of a property in a building that collapsed in Mumbai on culpable homicide charges Wednesday as the death toll from the disaster rose to 17.
The arrest came as civic activists in India’s financial capital decried the latest deadly housing collapse, which shone a spotlight on poor construction standards in the Asian country.
“We have arrested Sunil Shitap and are questioning him regarding the alterations that led to the building collapse,” Deven Bharti, a joint commissioner of Mumbai police, told AFP.
Seventeen people, including a three-month-old baby, were crushed under a pile of rubble when the four-storey building in the northern suburb of Ghatkopar gave way on Tuesday morning.
Police suspect that renovation work being carried out by Shitap to a private hospital on the ground floor caused the building, which housed several families in small apartments, to collapse.
Bharti said Shitap had been booked under three offences, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing grievous hurt by an act endangering the life or personal safety of others.
The death toll jumped to 17 on Wednesday after rescuers, using diggers to sift through the debris found several bodies during the night.
“Seventeen are dead and we have rescued 29 victims, eight of which have been admitted to hospital,” Sudhir Naik, a deputy commissioner for Mumbai’s civic administrative body, told AFP.
Rescue operations were winding down on Wednesday afternoon as officials started to give up hope of finding any more survivors.
Building collapses are common in India, especially during the monsoon season from late June to September.
Mumbai is particularly vulnerable with millions forced to live in cramped, ramshackle properties because of rising real estate prices and a lack of housing for the poor.
The city has been hit by several deadly building collapses in recent years, often caused by shoddy construction, poor quality materials or ageing buildings.
Activists say housing societies, private owners and builders often cut corners to save on costs. They also claim that corruption plays a part with officials sometimes knowingly certifying dilapidated buildings in return for money.
Bharti
Separatists held for terror funding:
India’s federal counter-terrorism agency arrested seven members of Kashmir’s main separatist alliance on Monday on charges of receiving funds from Pakistan-based militant groups to wage attacks, the agency said, the first such case against the group.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) said it had found cash and valuables worth millions of rupees, electronic devices and incriminating documents during raids on the seven members of All Parties Hurriyat Conference.
The Hurriyat is an umbrella group of political and religious groups fighting for Kashmir’s secession from India.
The accused could not be reached for comment. Top leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik condemned the arrests as arbitrary and called for a strike on Tuesday to protests the action.
Separatist violence and street protests have increased in Kashmir since last year when security forces killed a popular young separatist commander. Separatists accuse Indian forces of rights abuses. One of the seven arrested on charges of terror funding is Altaf Shah, a son-in-law of Geelani, who is a chairman of the Hurriyat.
The NIA said in a statement that the men had received funds from the Hizbul Mujahideen, a group comprising largely indigenous fighters as well as the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group which was blamed for the 2008 attacks on Mumbai.
Land titles overhaul eyed:
India is considering updating its colonial-era land records with a system that cuts fraud and protects the poor as mounting wrangles over land crimp economic growth, an official said.
But the overhaul could take decades to come good, he added, despite a growing thirst for land deals in fast-growing India.
“Every transaction is imperfect, and the onus of establishing ownership is on the buyer,” said S. Chockalingam, director of land records in western Maharashtra state.
Chockalingam also has influence on a national level, as he advises the government policy thinktank Niti Aayog on land matters.
In an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Chockalingam said a system to guarantee land titles should protect buyers from fraud and avoid the sort of lengthy court battles that frequently hold up development plans.
Land records in most Indian states date back to the colonial era. Most land holdings have uncertain ownership, so fraud is rampant and disputes over titles often end up in court.
Protracted legal battles can delay property deals, discourage investors and raise the cost of land. It also hurts the poor, women and minority communities who may lack the resources or the skills needed to engage in such fights.
“Right now, it’s only a presumptive title and you cannot be 100 percent sure of disputes and claims related to it. The intention is to establish ownership and provide a conclusive title,” he said.
Matters related to land and property make up about two-thirds of all civil cases in the country, according to a study released last year.
States will study land records, survey maps, transactions and court records to determine the ownership chain and litigation history of every property that is registered with the land titling centre, Chockalingam said.
This can be done for new and existing properties, he said Chockalingam.
Land records in India are gradually being digitised, and several states are taking steps to speed up land transactions and issue title deeds.
Rajasthan state last year said it would set up an independent authority to verify and guarantee land titles in its cities, as demand for real estate rises on the back of rapid urbanisation.