Panicked residents vacate Borivli building after sudden damage in heavy rains

A crack in one of the walls in Popular Terrace building in Borivali. Pic/Nimesh Dave

Monday morning began with a shock for residents of Popular Terrace in Kastur Park at Borivali West. They had to hurriedly vacate their homes, as parts of the four-storey structure were seen fallen or cracked, due to heavy rain the previous night. The society's committee asked residents to vacate it.

The structure built in 1978 has two wings. There are 15 flats, and seven shops on the ground floor. Residents had been seeing cracks in the walls for some time following which discussions had begun about repairs or re-development. In fact, a meeting was held with a couple of builders on Sunday. But the damage overnight changed everything. When some shopkeepers arrived to open their shops, not only did they see a huge crack on a wall of B wing, a part of the fence had also fallen. Inside the shops parts of the ceiling had collapsed and some walls were cracked. The flooring had also come out.

Jayesh Nandu, one of the shopkeepers, opened the shop around 7am, saw the damage and informed residents. By 10 am the building was vacated. "We are clueless about what happens next, especially about how to take our belongings from the building," said Krishna Ajmera. Tanu Kumari, another resident said, "The ceiling had once fallen in our home. In some other houses there are cracks on the walls."

Secretary of the building, R T Shah said, "We were already in talks with builders regarding re-development. But this sudden development we did not anticipate."

Ramakant Biradar, ward officer of R Central ward said, "The building will have to be demolished and restructured. Fortunately it was evacuated without incident."

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