The toll in Tuesday’s Kesarbhai building collapse at Dongri in south Mumbai mounted to 14 on Wednesday, even the Maharashtra Government called off the search and rescue operation after the Mumbai fire brigade and NDRF personnel ascertained that there were no more bodies left under the debris of the four-storey structure.
The civic officials pegged the number of fatalities at 14 and number of persons injured at 9, as they wound up the search and rescue operations at 4 pm, more than 28 hours after the 80-year-old Kesarbai building caved in like a proverbial pack of cards.
Of the 14 persons killed in the mishap, there were four women, seven men and three male children. The nine injured comprised five women, two men and two children — one male and one female.
The 80-year-old Kesarbai building — which had in July last year had been classified in a structural audit submitted to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as a structure “to be evacuated for demolition at the earliest” — had caved in at around 11.30 am.
At a joint of meeting of the BMC Commissioner, state-run MHADA chief, Mumbai Police Commissioner and state housing department officials that he had convened, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis reviewed the situation arising out of Tuesday’s Kesarbhai building collapse. At the meeting, it was decided to enact a law to facilitate re-development of C1 buildings – the structure that need to be evacuated for demolition at the earliest.
It was also decided that the and old and dilapidated be re-developed with MHADA as the builder and that the displaced residents from the old buildings be give rent for two years, pending the redevelopment of their structures.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 each to the kin of the deceased, Rs 50,000 to all injured and the government will foot all their medical expenses.