Curation Team
PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday night ordered residents of Padmavatinagar Society’s ‘C wing’ in Dhankawdi to evacuate the premises following a partial compound wall collapse amid heavy rain. The residents, however, refused and demanded evidence of structural instability of the 28-flat building.
“You are hereby informed that upon receiving this notice, you should vacate the premises in your possession and cooperate with us to prevent any loss of life or property. If you fail to do so, we will be compelled to exercise our rights under Section 268 (7) of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, and if necessary, with the assistance of the police, to vacate the premises you are occupying,” the PMC notice read.
Resident Deepak Parekh, a structural engineer, said samples were collected from the site after the wall collapse on Tuesday. “These samples will be used to check the structural stability of the building. Telling the residents to vacate the premises before the structural stability test is not justified,” he said.
The partial wall collapse also led to a blame game between society members, as former officebearers of the society blamed the new body “for ignoring the concerns.” “The civic administration must act against the illegal constructions near the compound walls to avert mishaps,” Sanjay Patel, another resident of the society, said.
A six-year-old girl and her two brothers (aged 12 and 13) survived miraculously after loose boulders and debris from the lower portion of the compound wall caved in amid heavy rain on Tuesday and crashed through the tin sheet wall to fall on the bed where they were sleeping.
At least 15 families of roadside vegetable vendors have been residing in tin shed dwellings close to the wall. These dwellers approached PMC last year to get the society to strengthen the wall. The survivors said the housing society was to be blamed for the mishap. “If the timely action to strengthen the compound wall was taken, this mishap could have been avoided. The authorities should fix the responsibility. We should get compensation,” Harshad Khandare, one of the survivors, said.
According to PMC officials, a delegation of the society members visited the civic headquarters on Wednesday, where they were asked to take corrective steps. “The works for safeguarding the compound walls will be carried out by the housing society. Steps should be taken to avert such mishaps in the vicinity,” Prithviraj B P, PMC additional commissioner, said.
