Mumbai: Two workers were killed and 13 others injured when a garment factory came crashing down in the wee hours of Thursday morning in Kalher village near the powerloom town of Bhiwandi in neighbouring Thane district.
According to workers, the single storeyed building began shaking at around 12.45 am and then came crashing down. “Work was underway to construct another floor, with a slab already being laid out and it is possible that due to its heaviness, the building came down,” said Thane Police Commissioner, K P Raghuvanshi. There were around 45 people inside the building with 11 escaping out without an injury. It is still not clear if any of the workers are still trapped as rescue operations are on.
A team of National Disaster Response Force also arrived to join in the rescue operations by the Fire Brigade and Thane Police. Supervising the relief and rescue operations at the spot were Raghuvanshi along with top officials including district collector P Velrasu, Bhiwandi Nizampur City Municipal Corporation commissioner Achyut Hange.
This is the second building that has collapsed in Bhiwandi and third across Thane in less than three weeks. The worst was in Thane’s Shilphata area, an illegal building that collapsed on April 4 claiming 71 lives; and in other incidents 10 died in the Altaf Mansion crash in Mahim, Mumbai, on June 21, another 10 lost their lives in Smiriti Apartments in Mumbra, Thane, and on June 22, the death toll was four in the Piyush Rikami building collapse in Dahisar.
With several building being constructed illegally by violating building rules, the Maharashtra government is planning to bring out a legislation that will also have provisions to take action against the engineer and architect of the building, said Ajit Pawar, Deputy Chief Minister.
