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No Fear No Favour

Blame game on: After Mumbai Bhendi Bazaar building collapse; MHADA blames SBUT for mismanagement.

As a life of Mumbaikars was coming on its track, the Bhendi Bazaar incident, where a building was collapsed in which 30 peoples are feared trapped, brings Mumbai to its knees.

According to the latest reports which are now surfacing, 13 people have been resucued and 33 bodies were recovered following a three-storey residential building collapsed in Bhendi Bazaar area of South Mumbai on Thursday.

Shifting the accountability of the death, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) held the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT) responsible for the building collapse. The SBUT held the, which is run by the Bohra community which was given the rights to redevelop a cluster of old buildings in the area, including the collapsed building.

“We had in 2011 given the NOC for a redevelopment of the building and we had been constantly pursuing the issue. We have all the papers and information with us regarding it,” MHADA chief public relations officer Vaishali Wagh told local news channels.

She said that the MHADA had been constantly nudging the families living in the building that it is a dangerous building to live in and the same was conveyed to SBUT of the risk.

When the building collapsed, the Ambulances, fire brigade vehicles and National Disaster Response Force personnel were deployed. “Our disaster management cell received a call at 8.40 am about the collapse,” said the civic body official. “We fear that several people are trapped under the debris.”

Asked about the process MHADA follows once a building is declared unfit for housing, she said, “In technical processes, once we give an NOC for redevelopment, all further responsibilities lie with the developer.”

“Then all further processes and action have to be taken by the developer (SBUT). We had in 2016 given permission to the SBUT to demolish the structure as this building posed a risk.”

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