MHADA Initiates Process to Demolish Remaining Portion of Dilapidated Kesarbai Building

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) has initiated the process to demolish the dilapidated Kesarbai building in Dongri area, a portion of which collapsed on Tuesday, killing 13 people.

An official of MHADA Thursday said the building has got weakened and needs to be pulled down immediately. MHADA's Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board is responsible for nearly 14,207 cessed buildings in the city, most of which are extremely old.

MHADA has already said that the structure that collapsed was an illegal extension of Kesarbai building located on Tandel Street in Dongri.

"The MHADA has initiated the process to demolish the Kesarbai building, which has further weakened after its illegal portion collapsed on Tuesday," Vinod Ghosalkar, chairman of the repair board of MHADA, told PTI.

"Before demolishing the rickety building, we need to follow certain procedure and the first step is cancelling the NOC given to the building's owner for its redevelopment...and we have started this procedure," he said.

"We are aware that the building has got weakened and needs to be pulled down as soon as possible," Ghosalkar said adding that MHADA's priority now was to redevelop the buildings on a war footing.

According to the official, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has assured to bring new rules for the speedy redevelopment of the old and dilapidated buildings.

"We hope that an ordinance to this effect comes soon, so that cluster redevelopment of these buildings can be taken up without any impediments. When the new guidelines come, it will be applicable to all the old and dilapidated buildings, be it cessed or non-cessed," he said.

On Wednesday, corporators cutting across the party lines demanded stern action against the officials and staff of the B ward of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the area under its jurisdiction has become a hotbed of illegal constructions.

However, Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi defended the civic officials saying the BMC has records to show that the structure was in existence since 1994 and was being assessed for property tax.

Meanwhile, one of the tenants residing in the building, who had refused to leave the premises, was moved out by the MHADA.