Subdued celebrations at their neighbours' homes will be the order of the day for landslide-stricken families, who say they have cut short the duration from the usual 11 days to a day-and-a-half
Subdued celebrations at their neighbours' homes will be the order of the day for landslide-stricken families, who say they have cut short the duration from the usual 11 days to a day-and-a-half
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Ganeshotsav is beginning at an unhappy time for several families in Walkeshwar. Having undergone the trauma of three of their neighbours dying in Sunday's landslide, the families now don't even have a roof over their head or a place they can call their own.
While they have blamed the landowner for constructing a swimming pool at the top of the hillock, which allegedly caused the soil to loosen and contributed to the landslide, residents say they are also unhappy with the BMC and MHADA for not sending workers.
They have now decided to cut short the duration of keeping the Ganesh idols from 11 days to one-and-a-half days and say they will be hosting the idol at the homes of their neighbours.
Rakesh, Jagruti and Jaideep Parab, who had spent Rs 3 lakh on renovating their 200 sq ft house just a few months before it was all covered in mud and water, said,u00a0 "The engineers came on Monday and weren't seen after that."
"We have been living in this house for four decades and keep the Ganpati idol at home for 11 days every year, but this year we will not be able to do so as I have been forced to stay with my sister in Dadar.
My husband, Jaideep, sleeps in the building's corridor every night since the landslide and we will be keeping the idol for one-and-a-half days at my sister-in-law, Aparna's house this year," said Jagruti.
"All our belongings are in Aparna's house and we are homeless at the moment. We are not even in a state of mind to perform pooja and God only knows how we will manage to extend any hospitality to the people who come to pray to the idol," she added.
"I got drenched while sleeping in the corridor on Tuesday night. When will this nightmare end?" asked an exasperated Jaideep.
The Mahadik family which lives at the end of the corridor, next to the Parabs' house, has also been affected adversely. 24-year-old Varsha was stuck in the bathroom when the landslide took place and had to be rushed to a hospital for treatment. The family has been living at a neighbour's place since.
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Amol Choksi, the neighbour who has been helping the family, said, "The landowner has built the illegal swimming pool in the name of rain water harvesting." "We had complained innumerable times to MHADA and BMC about the retaining walls developing cracks, but our pleas fell on deaf ears."
CM says
Meanwhile, the residents had also approached CM Prithviraj Chavan as the authorities were allegedly not doing anything. "The CM cancelled the meeting scheduled for 2:30 pm yesterday, but has promised to look into the matter as soon as possible," said Choksi.
The Other Side
P Masurkar, assistant municipal commissioner of D Ward, said, "MHADA has affixed bamboos to prevent the building from collapsing. Since it is private land, we have sent a notice to the landowner to have the debris removed.
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A retaining wall needs to be built, the building's structure has to be strengthened and the dilapidated portion has to be propped up.
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If all of this is not done, we will prosecute the land owner under Section 475-A of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act."
"This was decided after two structural engineers visited the site on Monday. We will take action against the landowner for building the swimming pool," he said.
BMC's standing committee Chairman Rahul Shewale said, "I will ask the officials to look into the matter of a swimming pool on the hillock. It is wrong for a person to bend the rules according to his wishes."
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