Mumbai: Digging next door opens up abyss in posh Juhu building

Iron support inside the groundfloor flat where Pankil Mehta below lives with wife PicsPoonam BathijaResidents of an upscale highrise on Juhu Beach are living in fear The Ivory Towers building complex tucked into the Juhu Koliwada lane Santacruz W has developed alarming fissures Residents said this is due to construction on an adjacent plot where the digging has been so deep 35 feet down that it has weakened the foundation of their 40yearold buildingThe sinkhole circled in which watchmen Raman Mangela and Mahendra Ram fellOn January 14 shaken residents claimed that the tiles in their weakened building have become loose and hollow The foundation which is sand has been literally washed away That day it was full moon and high tide when the water rises and rushes in It has weakened the tiles in our compound to such a large extent that both our watchmen feel into a deep cavity beneath the tile claimed residents including building chairman Chirag Negandhi The buildings CCTV footage bears out the falling claimRaman MangelaFirst floor resident S Agarwal said We were wakened by a loud noise around 2 am on Saturday We saw a huge cavity we could hear shouting We rushed down to help the watchmenRaman Mangela one of the watchmen who was walking with a noticeable limp when this reporter visited the building yesterday said I have been a watchman here for 10 years I was on my latenight rounds with my compatriot Mahendra Ram on Saturday when suddenly a tile gave way and I slid into a gaping hole It was pitch dark and Mahendra fell in too after a minuteCoconut trees tied to stop them from keeling overBoth watchmen were eventually rescued after a ladder was thrown into the pit Ram has fractured his hand Residents by then had rushed down to the compound as another section of tiles caved in It was a mini earthquake they saidTurmoil in their livesA visit to the building showed that coconut trees are tied with rope as they are in danger of keeling over because of weaknessSociety chairman Chirag Negandhi and secretary Manjit Sawhney rPushpa Jerajani 79 said There have been repeated tremors Our phones shake on the table we are so scared Agarwal said her 87yearold father is admitted to Hinduja Hospital He is a heart patient All this has added to his stress immeasurably My mother who is 80 is looking after him She then added sarcastically I am happy they are in Hinduja Hospital at least they are in a safe structure Not like this oneMany residents are afraid that they will have to leave the building which now has support in the form of iron beams in certain places after being weakened Husbandwife duo Vinay and Monisha Thadani had left for a few days but are back nowAlso Read Dig that Mumbai police find stolen gold hidden in village fieldAll of them concur that they have never felt the building vibrate with the intensity it has throughout the four months of digging so far Residents claim they have had meetings with Vineet Mittal owner of the adjacent plot We expressed our fears After the Saturday incident we spoke to him over the phone but he simply blamed it on the high tide said a residentAnguish and anxiety has been running high here Society secretary Manjit Sawhney said We have our life savings here Where will we go if we are told to vacateMost of us have not gone to work for the last few days thats how engrossed we have been in trying to tackle this problem We have had sleepless nights since that Saturday said another resident Seema SoniShe added that residents keep vigil at night in case of a collapse or further problem We have to be ready to runForced to fleeThe most affected is Pankil Mehta a groundfloor resident who has left his home since Saturday along with his wife Anal and their threeyearold son I am looking for alternative accommodation he said adding that his son is disturbed by what has transpired A visit to Pankils home shows iron beams all over the house for supportWith the building in such dire straits residents know these are desperate times which call for desperate measures like leaving their homes and then beginning the enervating cripplingly expensive and soulsapping search for alternative accommodation in an unforgiving city when it comes to real estateA recent tweet to the Mumbai police and Mumbai Congress with a picture of the huge cavity because of weakened tiles in the compound sums up the atmosphere and reads Dig deeper and build taller even if adjoining bldg caves risking 100 lives Stop this workIn a matter of days lives have turned upside down It is evident that Ivory Towers is living on the edge LiterallyThe other sideGirish David Sterling Engineering consultancy services structural engineer for the Juhu Koliwada plot said This is with regard to an unfortunate incident that has taken place at a housing society in Juhu Koliwada adjacent to a property which is under structural development by our firm Immediately after the incident occurred we assisted the society in repairing the damage caused by Force Majeure We would like to emphasise that all construction work was undertaken only after having obtained all applicable permits and clearances However we have now adopted additional safety measures with regard to structural work All possible precautions have been undertaken