Safety of people must be taken seriously

Authorities need to visit the site and send qualified supervisors to quell qualms. Do not dismiss fears as carping and check if they are legit

For days now, Mumbai has been following news reports of a portion of the compound wall, along with the driveway at Lloyd's Estate C&D Wing (Wadala Heights Co-operative Housing Society), abutting Dosti Realty's under construction project at Vidyalankar College Road, Wadala East, caving in on Monday morning. Several cars were in the deep crater as a result of the cave in.

A report in this paper stated that in a joint meeting among various agencies held in Wadala Heights, the BMC directed developer Dosti Realty to follow only the directives stated in Court Commissioner Shantilal Jain's report, which asks the developer to keep the neighbouring societies in mind with respect to its ongoing construction. His report submitted to BMC's Building Proposal Department, following the cave in, recommends strengthening the building's foundation by erecting steel girders as a precautionary measure to the shore piling.

The BMC chief has been quoted as saying that only remedial work, and no other, will go on there, as stated by the court commissioner. Residents are expressing dissatisfaction with the measures taken and residents' misgivings need to be taken seriously. In the fiery trading of charges post the incident and politicisation of the matter, including a morcha, let us not forget who is at the heart of the matter, the most vulnerable and the most desperate – it is the residents who live in adjoining buildings.

Authorities need to visit the site and send qualified supervisors to quell qualms. Do not dismiss fears as carping and check if they are legit. When the cave in happened, residents claimed that they had expressed fears earlier, which were dismissed or taken very lightly. Let there be more seriousness and concern now, verbal assurances do not cut it. Checking by experts on whether orders are being adhered to is absolutely imperative.

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