Borivli building collapse: They saw cracks forming and escaped in the nick of time

When Deepak Mandekar saw a gaping crack in his neighbourrsquos wall around 10 am on Friday his family decided to vacate their home in the A wing of Om Shree Gitanjali Nagar Society Borivli West Around 1 pm Mandekar and his wife saw off his mother and sonJust as they turned around to collect their belongings the fourstorey structure whose redevelopment was stalled due to bickering members sunk like a stack of cards No one was injured in the crash though the household goods of a few residents got crushed in the collapse Authorities asked the residents of three other wings of the society to leave their homes at onceResidents of the Awing were alarmed after seeing a huge crack in flat A02 PicsNimesh DaveSources said the BMC had declared the building unsafe and asked the residents to move out but a few members got a court order in 2020 and continued to live there The building came up 40 years ago Last month a building in the vicinity was evacuated after a pillar started crumblingAlso Read Mumbai Artists transform Worli wall into a high energy canvasldquoA few families stayed inside but some of them noticed cracks in the building in the morning and decided to vacate the flats So there wasnrsquot anyone inside when the incident occurredrdquo said Bina Doshi exlocal corporatorChandrakant Orlekar former secretary of the societyMandekar who lived on the ground floor at A02 said he thanked his stars for the providential escape but all their belongings are gone ldquoAfter we saw the huge crack in our neighbourrsquos A01 bedroom wall at 10 am we started packing hoping to leave the place by 1 am My wife and I came outside to see off my mother and son who were heading for my brotherrsquos home As we turned to take our bags there was a huge sound and the building collapsed in front of our eyes burying all our belongingsrdquo said MandekarA wing had 9 flats of which five were occupied till Friday morning Nearly 30 families lived in the other three wingsldquoThough we were in favour of the redevelopment some members were against it They went to the court and got a stay order promising to take responsibility if something happened to the building But the irony is they donrsquot live here Instead they put our lives at stakerdquo said MandekarShweta Jain a resident of the B wing was equally upset ldquoNow someone has to take the responsibility for the incident What happens if someone gets injured or something worse happensrdquo She her husband inlaws and two son sons moved to another place two months ago Jain said ldquoThe condition of our wing is worse than A wing The newspaper boy and milkman are afraid of entering the building We were waiting for redevelopment but as nothing was happening we left the place as our lives are more precious Now we are staying on rentrdquoAlso Read Mumbai Expect more rain this weekendRedevelopment stalledFollowing clashes between two groups an administrator was appointed a month ago The reelection for committee members was announced and it was supposed to be conducted on September 4 Former secretary Chandrakant Orlekar said ldquoThe society members were trying for redevelopment since 2017 but a few of them were against it I tried my best to convince people for redevelopmentrdquoThe 2020 court order restrained BMC from taking strict action ldquoThe BMC notice is still on the noticeboard of the collapsed building The residents from the other three wings were instructed to vacate their flats as they are no longer safe The BMC has arranged a stay at the nearby school for those who cannot get another accommodation immediatelyrdquo said Sheetal Mhatre excorporatorA tragedy was averted in the vicinity last month A portion of one wing of SaiDham Housing Society at Saibaba Nagar crumbled on July 9 The residents said that the complex was about to be redeveloped A few members had objected to the builderrsquos plan but the latter never responded to them40 yrsAge of the building