With the BMC and the landowner busy passing the buck onto each other, the damaged flats are yet to be cleaned and repaired; residents have been forced to move out or camp outside their homes
With the BMC and the landowner busy passing the buck onto each other, the damaged flats are yet to be cleaned and repaired; residents have been forced to move out or camp outside their homes
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It's been over a week since a major landslide disrupted lives of residents at Subhadra Mansion, Walkeshwar, but the three damaged apartments still lie unattended under the debris, which still hasn't been cleared.
Residents who had relocated temporarily have not been able to move back in, their flats still choked with rubble.
Residents claim that their pleas to cops, the landowner and BMC
officials have fallen on deaf ears, with no one ready to shoulder
the responsibility of repairing their homes
They are also waiting for action to be taken against the landowner, Subhash Parekh, alleging that he built a swimming pool atop the hillock, causing the soil to loosen.
"I stay with my family in the ground floor of the building.
My daughter narrowly escaped injury from the stones that entered the apartment. Nine days have passed since then.
We have approached everyone, from the cops to the landowner and the BMC. But no one seems to be willing to take the necessary action.
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The owner hasn't even visited the building after the landslide," said Parshuram Mahadik, a resident whose flat was damaged.
"I renovated my house three months ago, spending Rs three lakh. Now the rubble has damaged my house, and I will have to redo all the work again, spending the same amount of money.
My wife is staying with her mother, while I camp on the floor outside my house," said Jagdeep Parab, another affected resident.
Residents complained that the BMC officials and Parekh were constantly passing the buck to each other, both unwilling to commence reconstruction work.
The Other Side
Landowner Parekh said, "I am out of Mumbai, and will do the needful once I return." Asked about the illegally constructed swimming pool, he said, "I have not constructed any pool; it is a water harvesting pit, and has been in the building compound since 1987."
Officialspeak
We cannot do anything, as the apartment complex in not in a municipal plot. The soil needs to be strengthened, or els e further damage could be sustained by the building.
We have issued a notice to the landowner under Section 354 of the BMC Act, asking him to clear the debris and reconstruct the collapsed structures in the three damaged flats," said Rakesh Rudraksh, head of the building department, D ward.
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