BMC

excavation work

Wadala

Lloyd’s Estate

structural engineer

Dosti Blossom

MMC Act

PIC: AVINASH RAMNATH AND DEEPAK TURBHEKAR

Two letters written tohad pointed out that thewas weakening the stilt area of the two buildings. That is exactly where the cave in took place on Monday.The land cave-in inearly Monday morning that led to the evacuation of an entire wing in multi-storeyedcould have been prevented if the BMC had heeded residents’ warnings last year.Mirror is in possession of two letters sent by consultingNitin Kamble on August 4 and October 11 to Assistant Commissioner, F-north ward, Keshav Ubale warning that construction being carried out on an adjoining plot formerly owned by Krishan Steel [but still commonly referred to as Krishan Steel plot] posed a grave danger to Lloyd’s Estate andcooperative housing societies.Kamble’s services were engaged by residents of Lloyd’s Estate and Dosti Blossom on July 31 last year after a boundary wall collapsed at Dosti and both housing societies suspected it was caused by relentless excavation work at the Krishan Steel plot.Kamble wrote two reports – one each for Lloyd’s Estate and Dosti Blossom, with near identical observations.In both reports, Kamble was categorical that the ongoing construction at the Krishan Steel plot had caused structural damage at the podium level at both Dosti and Lloyd’s.On Monday morning, an internal road abutting the two podiums, and which had the two societies to its one side and the Krishan Steel plot to the other, caved it plunging five parked cars into a giant, muddy hole (see picture).The collapse has left Lloyd’s Estate’s podium nearly hanging over the hole created by the cave-in, prompting evacuation of one entire wing of the building. Panicky residents were seen leaving the society in their cars with just bare necessities.Kamble in his reports had said that an extensive structural study carried out across the two societies had revealed “distresses in the structural and non-structural elements”. He also made it clear that he agreed with the residents’ assessment that the construction activity underway at the Krishan Steel plot was responsible for the damage.“The buildings are not very old and hence the type of distresses observed during the inspection pointed to the excavation activities being carried out at a common neighbouring plot. The reports for both the buildings have been submitted to your office for your necessary action,” Kamble wrote.Kamble’s letters, in fact, warned of a mishap similar to Monday’s. “I visited the site on August 2 and fear a probable mishap and which I seek to make you aware through the brief report attached. You being the authority are requested to look into this and initiate necessary steps so that a life-endangering situation will not arise,” read Kamble’s letter to the BMC dated August 4, 2017.He also mentioned that the two buildings had developed cracks and these were widening. “Many fully grown trees have collapsed due to the excavation activities [at Krishan Steel plot]. The temporary steel structure erected to support the lateral pressure [at Krishan Steel site], particularly where the local failure of shore piles had taken place, failed and collapsed,” Kamble wrote.Ubale on Monday said he had not seen Kamble’s letters and that he had come to know about them through the Building and Factories department on Monday. “The society had appointed Nitin Kamble as its structural consultant. Under section 353(B) of the, we had issued a notice to Lloyd’s Estate to conduct a structural audit. However, their structural engineer did not deem it fit to carry out a structural audit because he said the distress was only observed in the stilt area,” he said.Simran Parmar, a resident of Lloyd’s estate, said the BMC is obfuscating. “We conducted structural audits several times. The BMC is just trying to wash its hands off. Just see what part of our compound has collapsed. This is the part our structural audit pointed out was vulnerable. The BMC should have stopped the construction at the neighbouring plot,” she said.