Close shave in Andheri East

Residents of Ram Baug CHS located alongside a hillock in Andheri East were fast asleep when heavy rainfall triggered a mudslide They woke up to loud bangs and sounds of crashing only to learn that boulders had broken the walls of five flats on the second floor They all rushed out of their homes in time to avoid any casualties The incident occurred around 145 am on Tuesday at the eightstorey building located on the Mahakali Caves road in Andheri EastAlso Read Mumbai slumpreneur earns lakhs to support family with beauty businessKitchen damagedNamrata Adangale who lives on the second floor said ldquoOn hearing the loud sound we just got up from our beds in fear and headed out unaware of what was actually happening Later we saw the damageThe debris fell outside the flats on the ground floor which is protected by a retaining wall PicSayyed Sameer AbediOur kitchen wall which faces the hillock has completely collapsed The situation is similar in four other flatsrdquo said Adangale who lives in flat No 215 ldquoThe building is around 25 years old and we never witnessed anything like thisrdquo she added The building was developed by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority SRA said civic officialsldquoSometimes small stones fall from the hillock but this kind of incident had never happened beforerdquo said Satish Kurne who lives on the first floor His flat too faces the hillock but the retaining wall kept mud and rocks from crashing into his house and others on the first and ground floors Debris which fell while boulders hit the second floor had accumulated outside their housesDebris outside windowsJyoti Gandhamala whose flat is on the first floor said ldquoMy mother and I were sleeping in the bedroom when we heard a loud sound We did not know what was happening as it was dark but fearing for our lives we ran out of the building When we returned later we saw mud and boulders outside our windowrdquo The fire brigade had also arrived after being alerted by the residents According to another resident some people have shifted elsewhere while some have stayed backAudit orderedAn official from K East ward office of the BMC said ldquoWe have asked the residents to vacate the building and provided them with temporary shelter at a civic school As the building belongs to the SRA we have suggested that they conduct a structural inspection by a qualified engineerldquoThe building would have to be vacated entirely if there is damage to the beams and pillars as there would be a need for major repairs If the auditor finds the pillars and beams safe and intact then residents can stayrdquo the official addedAccording to the official most necessary preventive measures have been taken to protect the hill from collapse ldquoHence continuous rainfall may have caused the landsliderdquo he added ldquoThe retaining wall should have been higher considering its proximity to the hillock It is currently at the height of the first floor We will make relevant recommendations to the authority concerned We have also sent a letter to the SRA to issue a stopwork notice to an underconstruction building which is part of the same projectrdquo the official said16 families evacuated from Nalasopara buildingThe Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation evacuated 16 families from a building on Tuesday evening after it was suspected that a column in it had collapsed At least 35 families from a nearby building were also evacuatedJNM building in Hanuman Nagar Nalasopara was declared unsafe however residents were yet to evacuate it PicHanif PatelAccording to officials the fourstoreyJNM building located in Hanuman Nagar Nalasopara was declared to be unsafe however residents were yet to evacuate it According to Kishor Gavas an official from VVMC ldquoA column of the building collapsed on Tuesday The building was already deteriorating and in a very bad condition All the 16 families residing in JNM building have been evacuated to safer spacesAt least 35 families from the nearby building Jalaram Kunj have also been evacuated as we are going to destroy JNM building tonightrdquo The evacuated families have been provided all basic amenities officials said ldquoA team of NDRF the municipal corporation and local police are present at the site A structural audit of other buildings nearby will be done soonrdquo he added It has been raining heavily in the areaFiveNo of flats damaged in the landslide05No of flats damaged in the landslide Apoorva Agashe