Aug 16, 2022 00:33 am
Two senior citizens lost their lives after the ceiling of a residential structure in which they resided came down on Monday evening.
The incident was reported in Moti Chhaya Building, located at Nane Pada in Mulund (East). The deceased were identified as Devshankar Nathalal Shukla (93) and his wife, Arkhiben Devshankar Shukla (87).
According to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster control cell, the incident took place at around 7.46 pm, on the first floor of the building.
“The slab from the first-floor ceiling collapsed, and the deceased senior citizens were the only people present at the time. The victims were rushed to the hospital, following which they were declared dead,” an official said.
The incident took place in a private building and the local ward office had issued a notice to its residents earlier this year stating that it was a dilapidated structure.
“The building is approximately 25 years old and earlier this year, we had issued them a notice under the section 351 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (MMC) act seeking response from the occupants for multiple alterations that were carried out in the building,” the official added.
According to the MMC act, a section 351 notice is like a showcause notice that is served to the owner/occupant of a residential structure seeking permissions and authorisations granted by the local administration for carrying out structural alterations.
Prabhakar Shinde, a former corporator of this locality, who was present at the spot, said that the deceased couple stayed alone in the building.
“There are at least five families who live as tenants in the building. The couple who died stayed by themselves and their relatives who stayed nearby used to send them food twice a day. The number of casualties could have been higher but all the other occupants were out,” Shinde said.
Mihir Kotecha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Mulund said that the structure was unauthorised.