Portion Of Thane Chawl Collapses; 10 Rescued Safely

A section of the first-floor gallery in Sanjay Mhatre Chawl collapsed late Sunday night, trapping 10 residents in the Diva area of Maharashtra's Thane district, officials reported. The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m., prompting a swift response from local fire brigade teams who rescued all trapped individuals from three affected flats without any casualties. The chawl, a single-storey row tenement housing around 40 families, is estimated to be 15 to 20 years old and was not previously flagged as a dangerous structure by authorities.

Yasin Tadvi, chief of the Thane Municipal Corporation's Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), confirmed that the collapse involved the gallery slab, a common feature in such low-income housing for shared access. Emergency personnel arrived within minutes, extricating the victims using basic tools and ensuring no further structural failures during the operation. The rescued residents, comprising families from the first floor, were treated for minor injuries on-site and discharged.

As a precautionary measure, all 40 flats were fully vacated, displacing 35 to 40 families temporarily. Officials advised them to relocate to relatives' homes pending a thorough structural inspection and necessary repairs. The building's condition has raised concerns about maintenance in densely populated urban chawls, where ageing infrastructure often exacerbates monsoon-related vulnerabilities.

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This event echoes recurring building safety issues in Thane, a Mumbai suburb notorious for chawl collapses due to poor construction and heavy rains. Recent incidents, such as the August 2024 wall collapses in Mumbra's Darga Chawl and multiple 2024 failures in Dongripada, highlight the need for stricter enforcement of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act. The RDMC has initiated an inquiry to determine the cause, potentially involving material fatigue or water damage, while urging residents to report structural cracks promptly.

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