Mumbai rains: Landslide shakes Wadala neighbourhood

Around 4 am on Monday Lloyd Estate resident Pinky Sharma was awakened by a loud thud I thought it was a cloudburst because it had been raining profusely she said But that was not the case as she soon discovered When I went to shut the window I saw the parking area sliding down and taking cars along said Sharma whose car also slipped into the pitWhat Sharma witnessed was a landslide that shook the residents of the Wadala East neighbourhood While there were no casualties at least seven cars slid into the collapsed portionThe Dwing of the building which is just above the affected area was evacuated immediately The cause of the landslide remains unknown but residents have blamed the construction work being done by Dosti Realty in the adjoining plot for the incident They alleged it has disrupted their premisesSaw this comingLloyd Estate residents said they saw this coming What happened today is only an aggravation of the problem The structural damage had already happened on those walls We feel this is because of the construction happening in the next plot said resident Sumit SrivastavaThe matter is being fought in court too Weve been facing this issue since the last one and a half year Wed even moved court with our complaint a mediator had been appointed in the matter said Priya Deshmukh a residentIt is mindless construction It was an open plot and we wonder how the permissions for the construction were sanctioned This has become a menace now said Armin Pardiwala a lawyer who resides in Dosti Acres ComplexNeighbour affectedWhen midday visited the scene later on Monday we found another portion of the compound wall just next to the one that slid on the verge of collapsing A little ahead a huge crack near the parking area jumped in the faceIt wasnt hard to see that this incident has affected the premises of the adjoining Dosti Blossom too Our entire basement had gone down by some feet six months ago after which wed complained to the building Theyd done a temporary rectification yet it went down last week said Ashwin Malvade a merchant navy officer who resides in Dosti Blossom The boundary wall has broken and there are cracks on the peripheral wall too We are worried said Mahesh G another residentWere afraid What happened at Lloyds can happen with us anytime Weve complained to the building BMCs building proposal department and the BMC commissioner Today we have officially complained to the police who have also examined the damage on our premises said Manoj Gurav housing society committee member of Dosti BlossomWeve been downstairs since morning All top officials have been coming and going but what about a permanent solution to the problem All of us are worried said Simran Parmar legal consultant and a resident of the DwingBuilder shrugsMeanwhile shrugging off responsibility for the damage a spokesperson of Dosti Realty said With respect to todays Mondays unfortunate event of the caving in of the road between the property of Dosti Realty Ltd and Wadala Heights Cooperative Housing Society Limited we state that the same has happened on account of heavy rains last Sunday night and due to said caving in some cars parked on the said road have got damaged said a spokesperson of Dosti RealtyAssistant municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said Weve issued Dosti Realty with a stopwork notice and they should not do any construction till the end of monsoon