Yusuf Manzil collapse: Same old horror storey

MUMBAI: If the preliminary findings of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) are true, the collapse of the
ground-plus-five-storey Yusuf Manzil, which occurred on Tuesday, has followed the script of many other building crashes Mumbai has seen in the recent past.

Mhada's preliminary investigations reveal that the owners of a shop on the ground and first floors had made extensive structural changes, which affected the stability of the Mhada cessed building.

"The residents of the building had complained to us that the owner had made alterations. He had broken the staircase connecting the ground and first floors in such a manner that the way to pass through for the residents was completely blocked,'' said Balbir Sehgal, deputy chief engineer (south), Mhada Board of Repair and Reconstruction. "Whenever we went there, the shop's owners would threaten us and never allow us to fix the problems. Their work had weakened the old structure,'' Sehgal added.

The D B Marg police have registered an FIR against the owners, Yusuf Memon, 60, and his son Irfan Memon, 35. The duo are absconding. "We have registered a complaint under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. We have also filed a complaint under the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning (MRTP) Act,'' said N R Mali, senior inspector of the D B Marg police.

Interestingly, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has a different take on the issue. While the BMC agrees that several illegal structural changes had been made by the shop's owners, it doesn't blame such work for the crash. Civic engineers said wanton repairs-constructing a mezzanine floor, erecting steel poles, demolishing a staircase connected to beams and, to top it all, digging a huge six-foot hole to make a basement-did not sound the death-knell for the structure. They blamed the building's age.

BMC commissioner Jairaj Phatak said, "An MRTP notice, for illegal demolition of the staircase, was served to the shop owner, but according to our investigations that alone could not have caused the collapse. From what we understand, the building was old and in need of urgent repairs.''

Mhada officials confirmed that floors had been redone and brick walls had been constructed on slabs. They said the building had been last officially repaired 12 years ago. They said that they had been wanting to carry out a fresh round of repairs for the past five to six months, but were met with stiff resistance from the shop's owner.

Interestingly, top authorities had been informed of the problems faced by the residents. A resident said, "We made several complaints to the police, BMC and Mhada. We also complained to MLA Arvind Nerkar, joint police commissioner Rakesh Maria and Mhada CEO Gautam Chatterjee.'' A Mhada official said Chatterjee wrote to the police asking them to take action against the shop owner.

Senior inspector Mali said, "In March, we had filed an FIR and arrested the Memons, but they got bail.''

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com