Just after BMC evacuates 1,000 locals, portion of Chandivli rd caves in

A portion of road simply disappeared in the force of the flood waters at Chandivli on Tuesday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Hours after a BMC team evacuated about 1,000 residents of two Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) buildings in Chandivli when cracks appeared in an internal road of the settlement, the pathway and a portion of the adjoining private plot caved in. Civic sources said nobody was injured in the incident. The settlement, which includes 38 buildings, accommodates people who were rehabilitated by the Forest Department more than 10 years ago from the slums in Kandivali, Malad and Goregaon.

"Around 11 pm on Monday, huge cracks appeared on the road. We evacuated the residents of buildings 9 and 10 as well as those working in the nearby shops. They spent the night in the neighboring buildings," said Manish Valaniu, assistant municipal commissioner of L ward.

"We need to conduct a survey of the area for signs of damage before allowing the residents to move back. Until then, they will be staying at Sangharsh Nagar Municipal School," he added. Valaniu said the road that caved in was constructed by the SRA.

An SRA official said a team visited the site in the morning and found that apart from the road a portion of the adjoining plot, which belongs to Shahpoorji Pallonji developers, had also caved in. "A similar incident had occurred in June 2017 when the road caved in due to work that was being carried out by the developers. We had issued them a notice and they had repaired the road. This time too, the road caved in due to the work they are carrying out in the basement," said an official.

However, a Shahpoorji Pallonji spokesperson said, "Unprecedented heavy rainfall and flooding on the adjoining road resulted in heavy thrust on the boundary wall (adjacent to the plot) leading to the landslide. Non-functioning of the storm water drain led to stagnation of water. There is no damage to the adjoining SRA building. We rushed to the spot and immediately started damage control measures by dewatering and backfilling of boulders and soil to reinstate the affected road segment. We will take all measures to ensure that there is no inconvenience caused to anybody."

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