Mumbai house collapse: PM, CM announce compensation to kin of deceased

Mumbai: Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday afternoon visited the injured victims of Wednesday night's house crash in Malad - which claimed 11 lives - undergoing treatment at the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday afternoon announced an ex-gratia of Rs 200,000 to the kin of each deceased from the PMNRF besides Rs 50,000 to those injured in the tragedy.

Earlier on Thursday, accompanied by Ministers Aslam Sheikh and Aditya Thackeray, Mayor Kishori Pednekar and Municipal Commissioner I. S. Chahal and other officials, the CM enquired after the health of the victims, the course of their treatment and other details from the attending medicos.

Thackeray also announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 to the families of each of the 11 deceased persons, mostly minors, who perished in the house collapse -- the first major monsoon-related tragedy this year.

He added that the government would bear the entire treatment cost of the injured persons.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Leader of Opposition (Council) Pravin Darekar visited the crash site and slammed the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for laxity in the matter.

"The local MP Gopal Shetty had warned in writing to the BMC highlighting the dangers of many of these illegal multi-storeyed tenements, which posed a huge risk in monsoon. But nothing was done about it," Darekar said.

Around 11.30 p.m. on Wednesday, a ground-plus-two storeyed house crashed and fell on an adjoining tenement in the New Collector's Colony at Malvani, Malad West as the city was clobbered by heavy rain.

The tragedy has claimed 11 lives so far, including 9 members of a family with 3 adults. The victims include 8 minors of which one was an 18-month-old female toddler and the oldest a 15-year-old boy.

Officials claimed that in many slum pockets across the city residents construct multi-storeyed tenements without authorization, some as tall as four or five floors, in places like Bandra, Dharavi, Jogeshwari, Malad, Dahisar and other slums, and ignore the demolition notices of the BMC.