BMC coporator: Blacklisted contractor built collapsed wall in Malad

Death toll rises to 27 as one more person succumbs to injuries on Friday

The BMC corporators have alleged that the BMC held back documents, allowing a blacklisted contractor to build the boundary wall that collapsed at Kurar village in Malad on July 2, killing 27 people so far.

In the meeting of the standing committee on Friday, leader of Opposition in the BMC Ravi Raja said the BMC awarded the contract to the company in December 2015 even as it was involved in a desilting scam. The contractor went ahead and built the wall in 2017, even though he was blacklisted in February 2016. He alleged that certain BMC officials withheld the blacklist order until the contractor began construction of the wall. The BMC had spent R21 crore on the construction of the 2-km wall.

The Standing Committee chairman Yashwant Jadhav has instructed the civic administration to file an FIR against the contractor. However, Raja demanded that criminal charges should be filed not only against the contractor, but also against "the officials involved and the consultant, who approved the design, for negligence that resulted in loss of human lives".

Meanwhile, the BMC has sent a show-cause notice to the contractor and set up a committee to investigate the incident, said sources. The death toll rose to 27 after one Sunil Jadhav, 50, succumbed to his injuries at Cooper Hospital on Friday. "He sustained several fractures and his rib was badly damaged. We tried our best to save his life but his condition started deteriorating and went kept him on ventilation. But he succumbed to his injuries on Friday," said a senior doctor.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates