TMC will ask VJTI, IIT-B to re-audit ‘unsafe buildings’

On May 8, when the residents of two four-storey buildings located at Vartak Nagar in Thane, received a notice of their building listed as extremely dangerous under C1 category of unsafe buildings, the residents who had no clue were stunned

Thane: Not satisfied with the audit conducted by builders and society on the safety of their buildings, residents of various societies have asked the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) for a re-audit in order to get a second opinion. Therefore, the civic body has decided to ask Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) and IIT-Bombay to carry out an audit of such buildings.

Thane, India - May, 31, 2023: TMC gives notice to residents of Vartak Nagar to conduct structural re-audit of the buildings as they are old and in dilapidated condition, in Thane, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Abhijit Bangar, commissioner, TMC said, “There are buildings where residents have claimed they want a re-audit as the report submitted by the builder or society is being doubted. In such cases what we do is we would ask the audit to be done by VJTI or IIT-Bombay and then take a decision on the building.”

On May 8, when the residents of two four-storey buildings located at Vartak Nagar in Thane, received a notice of their building listed as extremely dangerous under C1 category of unsafe buildings, the residents who had no clue were stunned.

Like every year in its list of dangerous buildings, this year the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has listed the building no 45 and 47 in the extremely dangerous category. Around 160 families in this building namely Apna Ghar co-operative Housing Society (45) and Vartak Nagar Adarsh housing co-operative society (47) were asked to vacate the building.

“These buildings are built by Mhada and are 40 years old. The audit that was done by the society is not right we believe and that’s why we want a re-audit. In the notice we were asked to vacate in 48 hours. It was shocking for us as we had no clue about the audit,” said Shashikant Shinde, one of the residents.

Followed by this the resident had met the TMC commissioner demanding the withdrawal of the notice.

“We have placed a proposal to the VJIT to get the audit done. Once the procedure is done, we will get the re-audit done,” said Shinde.

“All these issues will be sorted by the re-audit part and the civic body is in full support for doing the same,” added Bangar.

There are a total of 86 extremely dangerous buildings in the Thane Municipal area. 37 of those buildings have been evacuated. Whereas 49 buildings are occupied by citizens.