Mumbai: Girgaon woman escapes miraculously as wall collapses inside dilapidated building

The Shivparvati Krupa building in Girgaon, South Mumbai. PICS/RITIKA GONDHALEKAR

Fifty-two-year-old Neelima Kastur, who runs a small home-based chapati business in South Mumbai, had a miraculous escape on Thursday afternoon after a portion of the wall in her decades-old building suddenly collapsed, narrowly missing her. The incident occurred in Shivparvati Krupa, a dilapidated pagdi building in the Girgaon area. The woman was making chapatis at home when chunks of the slab came crashing down.

"I was just a few steps away. If I had been standing there, I don't know what would have happened. It's the exact spot where I sleep every night. What if this had happened at night while I was sleeping?" she said, her voice shaking.

A worker installs a support pillar inside the house

Though she escaped without injuries, the room where she prepares and stores her chapatis has been badly damaged, leaving her unable to continue her business at least for a month now. This business is the only source of income, with her husband being paralysed and bedridden. With the damaged portion of the house deemed unsafe, she anticipates an income loss of at least a month.

"I am thankful that I am alive, but I don't know how we will manage now. Even one month without earnings will result in a big hole in our pocket," she said. According to the residents, there has not been any single audit conducted ever, and neither has the building received any notices from authorities.

Support pillar turns lifesaver

Interestingly, another reason why Kastur was saved was the fact that the building owner's worker had gone to her home to place support pillars. "Just when the worker installed the pillar, the wall came crumbling. Around seven years ago, a similar incident occurred in our kitchen. Back then also the builder put support pillars," said Kastur.

Voices

Neelima Kastur, Survivor
‘We started this business in 2016 after my husband had a paralysis attack. This is the only way to cover essentials such as medicines, our son's education, and daily expenses'

Sangeeta Shetye, Neelima's sister-in-law
‘The room where she prepares and stores hundreds of chapatis daily has suffered significant damage, forcing us to halt operations immediately'

Rajan Naik, secretary of the building
‘We had given consent for redevelopment in 2012. The redevelopment plan was approved by the BMC in 2015. However, our developer Kapil Merchant was jailed in a financial fraud case and then declared that he has no money to do any work'

Jitendra Ghadge, Activist
‘It's a disturbing fact that a building this old and in this condition is missed by the authorities. Also, the building is visibly dilapidated. How could the authorities still miss sending a notice or questioning the builder? The only result of such bureaucratic lapses is people suffering and losing lives'