Agencies

Mumbai, Mar 14: Seven people, mostly workers from Karnataka, have died and another six have been injured after an under-construction building along the golf course at Royal Palms Society in Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon (East) collapsed on Tuesday evening.

The roof of the building in Goregaon collapsed while construction work was taking place, and buried many of those working at the site under the rubble. The disaster took place around 6.20 pm. The police suspect the collapse might have occurred because the pillars holding up the roof were weak.
 
Police said ambulances and earthmovers were rushed to rescue the trapped persons.

“A row of buildings are being constructed along the golf course, and the victims were all labourers involved in the construction. Around 6.20 pm, they took a break under a duplex building. It is then that the roof of this building collapsed,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone XI, Shivaji Bodke.

“We were sitting and chatting during a break. I stepped out for a minute and suddenly the roof collapsed,” said Jayaram Rathod (40), one of the workers from Karnataka who escaped. “I ran to the contractor . He came with us, but after that we have not been able to find him.”

Bodke said: “According to relatives of the labourers, who have gathered at the site, there were 12 persons working there. We have recovered 9 persons so far from the debris. Five are dead, and the injured have been rushed to Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali (West) and Holy Spirit Hospital in MIDC. The condition of one of them is very serious.”

Among the dead are Babu Rathod, Vijay Mandal, Sushil Mandal and Anil Chauhan; the injured include Raju Mandal, Baginath Harijan and Vinay Mandal.

“We are trying to locate and free them (those still trapped), but rescue operations are really difficult. It is almost a landslide-like situation here, with heaps of rubble and mud,” said Bodke.

“Forty workers are currently employed in the excavation process, along with firemen and policemen,” said Vikram Pawar, deputy municipal commissioner, (Zone IV). “This was a green area. The plan was approved by the BMC, after which the architect, developers and contractor are responsible. However, if anything has gone wrong, we will take action against them.”

Dilip G Uplekar, vice-president, Royal Palms, said: “The structure in question is a 500 sq ft ground-floor unit. The contract for the construction was given to Al Mehendi constructions, whose responsibility was to hand over complete unit to us. As per the contract it is the contractor’s responsibility to hire/employ all the labourers etc. and safeguard their safety, insurance and welfare. We are saddened that such an incident happened on our property.’’

The victims were at the basement of the housing structure at Royal Palms Villa, part of the sprawling 240-acre Royal Palms Estate in suburban Goregaon, when the upper slabs collapsed, Deputy Commissioner of Police Shivaji Bodke told PTI.

He said rescue work was on in full swing and the police were being helped by fire brigade personnel and municipal corporation officials. Heavy machines and equipment were pressed into service to clear the debris.

The deceased were identified as Babu Thakur Rathod, Vijay Lakindar Mandal, Anil Kashinath Chavan, S Bengali, Lakshman Rathod and Bhirukishan Chavan, police said.

The injured — Vinay Mandal, Raju Mandal, Bhagirath Harijan, Sushil Mandal and Tapovan Mandal were admitted to hospital, they said.

Four of the deceased labourers hail from Karnataka's Gulbarga district.

One al Mehendi is said to be the contractor who had undertaken the construction job for the structure which is owned by Amir Nancy, promoter of the Royal Palms Villa.

"Prima facie, it seems faulty construction led to the accident. We will take stern action against all those responsible," Bodke said.
 
Last month, 15 labourers died and another five were injured when the wall of a partially-built warehouse crumbled in a Mumbai suburb.

India is going through a real estate boom, but there are few safety precautions for workers at construction sites, and incidents such as Wednesday's building collapse are fairly common.