Rescue workers look for survivors as excavators clear the debris at the site of the building collapse in Thane, on the outskirts of Mumbai, yesterday.
Thane: Even as the death toll in Thursday evening’s building collapse rose to 48, two officials were suspended yesterday for not heeding complaints regarding the unauthorised structure.
Civic and police officials said Deputy Municipal Commissioner Deepak Chavan and Senior Police Inspector K P Naik of Shil-Daighar Police Station had been suspended.
“Another official, the ward officer of the zone, was suspended in January by the civic commissioner for laxity in acting against complaints of unauthorised structures,” a civic official said.
Disaster management and fire brigade officials continued rescue operations yesterday, over 24 hours after the tragedy.
“We have pulled out 48 dead bodies. We have rescued 59 people. At least 25 people are still trapped under the rubble. We plan to rescue them slowly to avoid any more injury,” National Disaster Response Force Commander Alok Awasthi said.
A Thane disaster management official said while efforts were on to rescue those trapped under the debris, many victims were yet to be identified.
“Eight to 10 victims who were critical have been shifted to hospital in Mumbai. We pulled out many children,” he added.
At least 10 children succumbed to their injuries in the incident, police said.
There were around 35 families living in the seven-storey building.
While civic officials admitted that the building was unauthorised, they blamed the builders, who went ahead with the construction despite not having the required permissions.
Asked if the building was on forest land, a civic official confirmed the same, stating that the forest department had not paid heed to its correspondence.
“We had written to the concerned forest official requesting him to look into the unauthorised construction of the building in October last year. We even sent a reminder the next month but did not get any response,” he said.
The official said that in March, a notice was slapped on builder Adnan Seth, one of the partners in the company constructing the structure.
A forest official said the land was privately owned and did not come under the purview of the forest department.
Police have registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the builders, Jamil Qureshi and Salim Shaikh, who have gone underground.
Civic sources said substandard material was used in construction of the building and it had no occupancy certificate.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister R R Patil visited the spot.
IANS
