Building crashes down at Lamington Road

Mumbai: A recent incident, wherein the front portion of Yusuf Manzil, a five-storied MHADA cessed building came crashing down at Lamington Road on August 25, shocked the channel partners in Mumbai. Although, none of the IT channel partners had their offices and shops in the building, the incident did bring trade at Lamington Road to a halt for a while.

While the tenants escaped unhurt, the landlady of the building, 85-year-old Zubeida Khambati, succumbed to injuries in hospital.

On contacting the DB Marg police station, an official on the condition of anonymity stated, "The 75-year-old residential-cum-commercial building collapsed due to unauthorized construction work carried out on the ground and first floors by the owner of Janata Electronic Store. The proprietor of Janata Electronic is absconding and we will put him behind bars once we have traced him and a fresh complaint is lodged against him."

An FIR had been lodged against the owner on March 21 with the DB Marg police station, but no action was taken against him even then. While the fourth floor of the building was vacant, the fifth floor was occupied by the landlord and his 85-year-old mother, who was rushed to Nair Hospital with serious head injuries.

Vinod Vanigota, Proprietor Chipcom Trader said, "I was busy working at my shop in Lamington Road when the incident took place. However, later I discovered that the owner of Janata Electronics, who had rented the ground floor of the building for the store, was carrying out repair works without the landlord's permission, which eventually led to the collapse. None of the IT channel partners had their shops in that building and the business has returned to normalcy now."