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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, SEPT 3: As the cheer went up for the human pyramid reaching for the dahi-handi, four persons, including a three-year-old, applauding the feat from the balcony of a Dadar building crashed to their death at around 4.30 pm today.
The accident, which instantly plunged the festivities into a sea of stunned mourners, took place soon after Catherine D'Souza (35), carrying her three-year-old son Joseph, her neighbour Neelima Janjane (35), her daughter Saili (10) and Bhavesh Mahadik (15), a tuition pupil, rushed excitedly into the third-storey balcony at Daya Manzil behind Hindmata cinema, to witness the festivities. While Catherine, Joseph, Neelima and Bhavesh died, little Saili, a Std III student of King George High School, is still battling for life with a serious head injury at KEM Hospital.
Catherine's husband Johnny is in shock. Catherine's sister says the couple's three-month-old baby was asleep inside the house when tragedy struck. Bhavesh, who resided at the nearby BDD Chawls, was a dayscholar at Our Lady's School, a branch of St Paul's Church. Two spectators also received minor injuries.
The tragedy, residents say, could have been averted had the D'Souzas heeded warnings issued by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), which owns the building, only two days ago. The building, which was constructed in 1938, had developed cracks allegedly due to illegal renovation work which was underway even as the balcony collapsed today. The building, which was badly in need of repairs, had itself not been attended to in over a decade. However, following complaints from residents over the recent cracks, MHADA had advised them to keep their balconies shut.
``The supports of the third-storey balcony had worn out completely. Fortunately the second storey occupants had kept their balcony shut,'' says a neighbour. Now, only a portion of that remains, with the ill-fated structure above shaving off the protruding portion when it crashed today.
Though the D'Souzas and the familybelow had been warned to stay off their baclonies, no action has been taken against the owner of a cloth shop on the ground floor, residents say. The merchant, who has built an illegal, private staircase from his shop to his first floor residence, was not available today.
``Work on the staircase, which was completed a month ago, had further weakened the building. Cracks have developed on the flats above. The other shopkeepers on the ground floor have also removed beams and walls to increase the floor space,'' a resident reveals. ``The day-long pounding and hammering has been a cause of much concern. The sounds are so loud we can feel the vibrations,'' adds another resident, referring to the renovation work, which is still underway.
Soon after the tragedy, Mayor Hareshwar Patil, local corporator Digambar Kandarkar, MLA Kalidas Kolambkar, Member of Parliament Mohan Rawle and other local politicians descended at the site. However, scornful residents point out: ``No one bothers about our condition. They comeonly when a disaster takes place.''
Hours later, as darkness fell, silence blanketed the neighbourhood. However, Johnny D'Souza's message rang out loud and clear. He says he had complained against the illegal renovation barely three days ago. But to no avail. ``I had approached a social worker who wields some clout in the municipality and told him that our balcony had developed a huge crack. He brought officers from the BMC who also saw the cracks. He also promised to exert the requisite pressure to get the repairs done. On Wedneday, MHADA officials arrived and said the repairs would be carried out, but the neighbours asked them to postpone the work till after Janmashtami,'' Johnny told Express Newsline. ``My wife and the others ran out to look at the celebrations out of habit,'' he adds. ``Now, they are gone.''
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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