Tags:
Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, March 28: A six-storeyed building in Ulhasnagar collapsed this evening just hours after it was evacuated by the police following reports that it had begun to sink. The building had seven flats on each floor and housed 28 families. The ground floor comprised entirely of shops.
Eye-witnesses said Saideep Palace located in the commercial hub of Ulhasnagar, Camp II began shaking violently around 6.25 pm and was reduced to huge pile of rubble in less than five seconds. This reporter, who rushed to the spot after a couple of residents called to say that their walls had developed cracks, saw the structure disappear behind a cloud of dust that took over two hours to settle.
According to a resident of flat no 301, Vijay Ghanshyamdas Sachdev, his wife pointed out the cracks on the beams in their house when he woke up at 9.30 am. “She called at my shop at 11.30 to tell me that the cracks had widened and spread all over. I rushed home immediately and called the builder.” The builder Ashok Rajwani was not much help though. He not only pooh-poohed the residents’ fears, he gave them a tongue-lashing for spreading rumours. “Who will buy the vacant flats in this building, if you spread such canards?” he asked them. Deepak Gopaldas Gokhlani the proprietor of Rahul Shoes shop on the ground floor said: “I had warned the builder several times when chunks of plaster and concrete began falling leaving the metal exposed.”
When one of the pillars in the front sank sharply around 12.20 pm today the residents called the police who summoned the architect Mahesh Lalwani. “But even he was not too sure about what would happen,” pointed out Senior PI Vilasrao Lokhande. Police thendecided that it would not be wise to take any chances and ordered evacuation. But since most of the middle-class residents had spent their life savings in buying the flats, police faced a lot of resistance. But, by 3 pm the entire building was evacuated.
Passions, meanwhile, ran high when some corporators came to speak to residents who have taken shelter in a nearby temple. “You are responsible for the mess we are in,” they charged as some of them even made to attack some corporators who beat a hasty retreat.
