Toll in Mumbai building collapse climbs to 34
AT RISK Officials believe torrential rain could have weakened the foundations of the structure, three adjoining buildings also evacuated
Police said that 34 people died of the 46 who have been rescued in the Bhendi Bazaar collapse in Mumbai as rescue operations continued overnight.
The 117-year-old Hussaini building collapsed on Thursday morning at the congested locality, and rescue operations were still on at the site on Friday, more than 24 hours after the collapse. Fire brigade officials said that a few more people are likely to be stuck under the debris.
Thursday’s incident also saw six firemen and one NDRF person sustaining injuries.
PS Rahangdale, chief fire officer of the Mumbai fire brigade said two of them have been admitted to the JJ Hospital, and others have been discharged. Though the cause of the collapse was yet to be confirmed, officials believe torrential rain in Mumbai could have weakened the foundations of the building where fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim once lived.
Thirteen tenants, including 12 families, were living in the building at Pakmodia Street. Reports said it also housed a play school but the children had not arrived when the building collapsed.
Three adjoining buildings were also being evacuated to ensure safety, said BMC officials.
Rescue workers clambered up the large mound of concrete rubble and steel rods and hammered at concrete slabs to reach below the debris. Cranes and bulldozers were also deployed. The collapse is the third in Mumbai in over the last two months.
The building came under the ambitious Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project that envisages cluster redevelopment of the entire densely populated locality crammed with shops, narrow alleys, and old buildings, spread across 16.5 acres. “The trust had already shifted seven families in 2013-14. Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority had issued notices declaring the building to be dilapidated along with an offer of transit accommodation to the remaining tenants,” Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, which has undertaken the redevelopment project, said in a statement.
Local corporator Rais Shaikh held the development authority responsible for the collapse. “The authorities should have evacuated the tenants a long time back as the building is unsafe. An inquiry should be instituted,” Shaikh told HT.
Meanwhile, the city limped back to normalcy after it was paralysed by heavy downpours for two days. Train services and public transport were halted and airports shut on Tuesday as roads turned into rivers and floodwaters seeped into many low-lying buildings. In many places, people had to abandon their vehicles and wade through waist-deep water.
Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday upheld a Haryana law ensuring 10% reservation for Jats and five other communities but stayed its implementation till a commission finalises the quantum.
Lawyers associated with the case, however, said the judgment meant the state could breach the sealing of 50% quota under ‘extraordinary circumstances’.
The top court had earlier ruled that reservation in government jobs and educational institutions must not exceed 50%.
“The high court said the extent of reservation will be determined by the State Backward Classes Commission on the basis of data submitted either by the state government or collected on its own,” additional advocate general Lokesh Sinhal said.
The commission has been given time till March 31, 2018, the period till which the quota will be suspended.
The ruling could bring relief to the Manohar Lal Khattar government, which announced the quota after Jats ran riot last year, leading to the deaths of about 30 people. Property worth crores was also damaged during the agitation that left the state paralysed for nearly two weeks.
The high court’s division bench stayed the Haryana Backward Classes (reservation in services and admission in educational institutions) Act, 2016, on May 26 last year after it was challenged on the ground that the law was contrary to the basic structure of the Constitution and exceeded the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court in a 1992 case.
Haryana has notified 20% reservation to SCs, 27% to OBCs, 10% was given to Jats and five other communities under special backward class category and another 10% to economic backward persons from general category, which adds up to 67%.
Reacting to the development, All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) national president Yashpal Malik said they were disappointed with the verdict but appealed to all the members of the community to “maintain peace”.
RULING COULD BRING RELIEF TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT, WHICH ANNOUNCED THE QUOTA AFTER JATS RAN RIOT LAST YEAR