Two months on, no report on Dockyard collapse

Two months after the Dockyard Babu Genu Market building collapse, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to submit its technical and administrative enquiry reports. According to sources, they have not even started the process to determine the cause of collapse that left 61 of its employees in the collapse dead and 31 injured.

Sixty-one residents died and 31 were left injured when the Babu Genu Market building collapsed in September this year. File Pic

Devendra Amberkar, who is the Opposition leader at the BMC and also the corporator of Andheri, said, "It is high time that the BMC starts working on the reports and takes the problems seriously. If they can't take the loss of their own employees seriously, I don't know what would they do to the common public. They had earlier promised to come out with the two main reports within a month's time after the collapse but it's been two months now and no report has been submitted. An administrative enquiry has not even started yet."

According to initial findings, the mezzanine floor of the building caused the collapse. The administration even has photographs, which were taken in 2010, when BMC's Market Department had inspected the building. According to the pictures, the beams and columns have been tampered with.

The civic body is waiting for the chemical analysis reports of the material submitted to Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute. The reports will also reveal the quality of the material used to construct the building. Laxman Vhatkar, director-in-charge of the technical report, said, "Our reports will be out by next week, as we are expecting the chemical analysis report this week. We suspect it was the mezzanine floor that gave way but an official statement will be given only after the technical report is out. It will not take much time to verify all the facts once the chemical report is in our hands."

Till the reports are not out, no enquiry can be conduced on the officers suspected of negligence. However, the BMC is yet to record the statement of the suspected officers.u00a0