‘Need to focus on redevelopment’, says Bandra MLA after wall collapse incident

In a grim warning for the upcoming season a portion of a Bandra E building collapsed on Monday morning killing one and injuring five While the area is a mix of chawls rows of dilapidated residential accommodation upscale office space and new spiffy residences it is still the poor cousin compared to the glitzier Bandra West Zeeshan Siddique Bandra East MLA talks about the collapse and the wider problems of the suburbA portion of a structure collapsed on Monday morning What happens to the remaining partDebris has to be cleared on priority There is a bent portion that is hanging precariously and has to be removed Debris will fall from there too as it is removedWhat was the cause of thisWe will know if it was the heavy rains or some faultweakness in the structure after a structural audit I was alerted via phone at 130 am on Monday was at the site by 2 am the young man who died was a migrant His employer of a warehouse gave us a telephone number and we were trying to reach his uncle in Bihar A mother and two brothers were injured they are at the KEM HospitalThis tragedy aside Bandra East has so has so much old decrepit housingThere have been builders who have promised tenants that they will redevelop these buildings but they are perennially in transit camps The Golibaar transit camp where residents had been promised accommodation 22 years ago is one such example People live in appalling conditions there I have raised the issue in the Assembly I have suggested that the security deposit that this builder has given to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority be forfeited and used for bettering the conditions in the campsAlso ReadNo survey or actions against residents Ward officer on Bandra wall collapseLook at the condition near Bandra East station in your constituency slums have three floors the few that were demolished years ago debris is still lying there Why were they allowed to mushroomWe cannot demolish peoplersquos homes with them having nowhere to go There are builders who have defaulted on their promises We need to work on redevelopment rather than ouster of the peopleThough there are problems in Bandra West they are not on the same scale as the East which remains a poor cousin compared to its spiffier sibling acrossYes it is unfortunately the poor cousin It has been neglected and we have the current Chief Minister of Maharashtra living hereWhat have you done infrastructurewise for the area you are the elected representative you cannot be helpless like other citizensI have first of all made public toilets in Bharat Nagar Behrampada Shantilal Compound as that was the need of the people I want to see that redevelopment is pushed through I will take the matter up once again in the Assembly Covid has been a setback but once we are back to normal I have to take up the housing issueThe area remains the worst affected in the rains Reassurance about desilting and cleaning nullahs comes to zilch with the first floods and Bandra East sufferingThe Mithi River is unfortunately the Mithi Nullah There is a huge budget for cleaning and I was supposed to have a meeting with Guardian Minister of the suburbs Aaditya Thackeray who said there are some hightech cleaning solutions that have been planned During the monsoon the Mithi river water literally comes into the homes of people from Dyaneshwar Nagar I had said we must build a wall so that the water cannot get inhellipYou are giving suggestions but people have voted for you to see real action and change not talkI have a vision and mission but it was just a couple of months after I was elected that Covid struck This has affected the timeline I understand that people want answers from me and I have to give them those answers