PALGHAR: The death toll in the collapse of a building at Virar in Maharashtra's Palghar district has gone up to 17, officials said. As per the local civic official, one of the sections of Ramabai Apartment at Virar came crashing down on early Wednesday.
The illegally constructed four-storey building, housing nearly 50 flats, collapsed on an adjacent vacant tenement at Vijay Nagar in Virar area at 12.05 am on Wednesday.
The birthday party of Utkarsha Omkar Jovil, a one-year-old girl, was underway on the fourth floor when 12 flats in a wing of the building collapsed, trapping residents and guests under the debris, as per eyewitnesses. Utkarsha and her 23-year-old mother were killed in the collapse. Her father, Omkar, is still missing.
The Ramabai Apartment was illegally constructed between 2012 and 2013, and it was subsequently declared unsafe. The Vasai-Virar municipal corporation had also issued an evacuation notice to the residents of this building. But the notice was ignored by the developer, Nittal Gopinath Sane, owner of Sai developer.
After this incident, Virar police arrested Nittal Sane, under Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with several sections of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning (MRTP) Act.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced Rs 5 lakh financial help to the families of the deceased. He said several such illegal buildings are in crumbling conditions.
"The local authority had already issued the notice to Ramabai Apartment and even asked them to carry out the structural audit of the building because it was declared unsafe to stay in. But people did not move out because of several reasons. However, we as a government need to be strict against such buildings to save the lives of the people. The survey will be carried out to identify more such buildings, and action will be taken,” CM Fadnavis said.
A local activist said that illegal buildings are mushrooming because of the blessing of the local administration and political leaders. "How come anyone can dare to construct an illegal building? It is happening due to the blessing of the government and civic officials, and political backing. The local corporation very much knew and was aware of the condition of the building, and they even issued the notice, so why weren't the people evacuated early, and action taken against the builder?," he asked.
"Were they waiting for this incident to happen and kill the people? The action should be taken under the Maharashtra Protection and Interest Depositor Act, and the property of the builder should be confiscated and sold in the open market and use that money for the deceased's family,” the activist said.