Eight persons died, most of them in their sleep, and five others injured when an under-construction wall in Thane collapsed on the adjoining houses during the early hours on Tuesday. In a separate incident, one person died after the scaffolding of a building fell on him at LBS Marg in Mulund on Wednesday morning.
The victims were from Dynaneshwar Nagar adjacent to the residential project of Dosti Vihar, whose developers were increasing the height of the retention wall. According to Thane municipal commissioner R.A. Rajeev, the emergency control room of the civic body received a call at around 4.45 am informing them about the mishap. Though rescue teams of the civic body, fire brigade and the police rushed to the spot, eight people from four families died. The rescuers managed to save five persons. The deceased have been identified as Shivakant Singh (45), Idavati Idarsingh (40), Mira Thakur (40), Vishwanath Thakur (45), Savita Bhagat (25), Sangita Bhagat (26), Pinki Bhagat (15) and Sunaiya Bhagat (16). The injured include Mira and Vishwanath Thakur’s son Sunny (8) and Dudhnath Bhagat, father to Sunaiya Bhagat.
Meanwhile, the Thane district collector will be facilitating the compensation for the victims from the state government. Meanwhile, the TMC has shifted all the 45 families who live in the area adjoining the collapsed wall to a transit accommodation at Vartak Nagar.
Mr Rajeev said that the civic body has initiated an inquiry into the incident, to be carried out by the assistant town planner, to probe whether the wall that was being constructed violated any civic norms. According to sources, the wall was being constructed beyond the permissible limit, and the developers were also dumping debris against the wall. The TMC has also lodged an FIR at the Vartak Nagar police station against the developer for causing death by negligence under Section 304 (A) of the IPC.
However, deputy commissioner of police Ashok Morale said that the FIR had not been lodged against the developer but against the contractor who was carrying out the construction on behalf of the developer.
Mr Morale added that the investigation was in progress.