People living in dilapidated buildings are ignoring the warnings of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to vacate to safer places before monsoon. The civic body has now decided to act tough and resort to some strong-arm tactics in a bid to save peoples lives in a city that frequently sees people being killed when old buildings collapse in monsoon. Tenants of dangerous buildings are being served with notices saying water connections to their houses will be severed if they do not move out. People in 143 buildings of 239 private buildings considered dangerous are being told to vacate within seven days or go without water. A pre-monsoon survey carried out by the BMC identified these 239 private buildings and 44 municipal buildings as dilapidated and dangerous. In a circular dated May 19,all assistant municipal commissioners of the 24 wards were told to get these buildings vacated or serve tenants with water disconnection notices. While civic officials reported that all identified buildings in M/East-Govandi (22 buildings) and M/West-Chembur areas (12 buildings) have been informed of the water disconnection,those in Kurla (15 buildings) and Ghatkopar (16 buildings) areas have been issued notices of action. Additional municipal commissioner Kishore Gajbhiye confirmed the notice. If people are not willing to vacate dangerous buildings,we have to take extreme measures. They have been told to leave or face water disconnection, he said. City Engineer A D Manohar said that the tenants will be given a week to evacuate. They have been given an idea of water supply disconnection and we will take action accordingly, he said. Mumbai has a history of buildings collapsing every monsoon,leading to loss of many lives. Many of these buildings were built in the British era and are dilapidated. Others are kuccha structures with heavy load or made unstable by unauthorised structural changes. The civic administration hopes that the notice will prompt tenants to move to safer locations. The BMC has kept 10 tenements ready in each ward to rehabilitate people who vacate their houses.
