Dahisar bldg fall kills 7. Toll 101 in 4 crashes in 79 days

2nd Collapse In 2 Days; House Dangerous, Yet Left Standing

Mumbai: An unoccupied building, labelled dangerous and evacuated in 2010, collapsedon Saturday morning,killing seven persons and injuring another seven in Dahisar. Four buildings have collapsed across the city and its suburbs in just 79 days this year, between April 4 and June 22, snuffing out 101 lives. 
    PiyushCo-operativeHousing society, a four-storey building constructed in 1982 on Y Tawde Road close to Dahisar station, collapsed at around 6.30am,killing three members of the building watchman's family andfour vendorson the footpathoutside. 
    The 'dangerous' structure, though unoccupied, was neither demolished nor repaired owing to a disputebetween the housing society and the builder. The BMC filed a case against the housing society for notinitiating repairs. 
    Municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said since it was a private building, the onus of repairs was on the owner and residents. "If a lapse is proved on their part, we may file a police complaint against them for endangering thelivesof people." 
    However, the civic body didn't disconnect the building's water connection, allowing the watchman's family to keep returning to use the bathrooms of the vacant flats. The BMC said it will probe if the water supply was 'illegal'. 
FALLING LIKE NINE PINS 
June 22 | Condemned Dahisar building collapse kills 7 
June 21 | 3-storey Mumbra house caves in, 10 perish 
June 10 | Portion of a five-storey house in Mahim falls, 10 dead 
April 4 | Underconstruction illegal building in Shilphata crashes, killing 74 
DAHISAR TRAGEDY 
    3 of watchman's family & 4 vendors outside killed 
    4-storey Piyush Coop Housing society built over 30 years ago near Dahisar station as a residential building 
    Turned into a commercial building as diamond polishing units came up in the flats
    In 2010, BMC declared it dangerous but repairable. Vacated and sealed it 
    No repairs took place, thanks to a dispute 
    BMC went to court, but building wasn't demolished

A part of the Dahisar building fell on road outside, killing 4 bystanders