Maharashtra: Death Toll in Bhiwandi Building Collapse Rises to 39

Thane: The death toll in the Bhiwandi building collapse in Maharashtra rose to 39 on Wednesday with

the recovery of 14 more bodies overnight, police told PTI.

The dead include 18 children in the age group between two and 15, including three toddlers, an official said.

Twenty five persons have been pulled out of the debris alive so far. They are being treated at hospitals in Bhiwandi and Thane, the official said. He added that the search operation continued through the night despite heavy rains.

The bodies recovered from the debris were mutilated and highly decomposed as they had been in the debris for over 50 hours, he added.

The 43-year-old Jilani building collapsed at 3:40 am on Monday, September 21.

Two civic officials have been suspended in connection with the collapse and an offence has been registered against the building owner, the police official told the news agency.

The building in the power-loom town – about ten kilometres from Thane – had close to 40 flats and around 150 persons lived there, the official said. The building, located at Narpoli's Patel Compound near Dhamankar Naka, had collapsed while the residents were asleep.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and personnel from the Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF) were still at the spot as the search operation has continued, the police official said. The building was not in the list of dilapidated structures of the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, he added.

On Tuesday, Bhiwandi DCP Rajkumar Shinde said offences under Sections 337, 338, 304 (2) of the Indian Penal Code were registered against Sayyed Ahmed Jilani, the owner of the building, after a complaint by civic officials.

The BNMC suspended two senior officials in connection with the building collapse. An inquiry committee has also been set up and will include the assistant town planner, he said.

A building resident had told the news agency that most of the residents of the building were tenants and included autorickshaw drivers, vendors and labourers.

A civic official had said that the building was served two notices, one in 2019 and another in February, over alleged irregularities, but the residents did not leave as the rent was low.

Maharashtra rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar said the issue of unauthorised and dangerous buildings in Bhiwandi was a serious one and will be discussed in the state cabinet.

The minister, who visited the collapse site on Tuesday, told reporters that a decision would be taken about sanctioning of additional FSI and other measures for the rehabilitation of affected persons.

Action would be taken against those responsible for the collapse, he said.