THANE: A day after five lives were lost in the Kalwa mudslide, the Thane Municipal Corporation(TMC) has claimed to have repeatedly alerted the forest department that owns the land where the ill-fated structures were built, about the imminent dangers in the oncoming monsoon.
Civic officials said the possibility of landslides was discussed at a monsoon safety review meeting held by the Thane municipal commissioner in May following which reminders were also issued to the forest department in June advising them of evacuating residents from perilous locations if required.
“We alerted the forest department to survey and take appropriate action in either removing or relocating the residents as there were possibilities of landslides during heavy rains. As the land belongs to the forest, we have no power to take action but had offered our manpower during drives. We had also put up signboards warning residents of imminent dangers,” confirmed Sachin Borse, assistant municipal commissioner at the Kalwa ward.
Following the incident, officials said the forest department had plans to conduct a survey of all dangerous spots along the stretch and take appropriate action. Forest officials could not be reached for their comments.
Activists said it was the combined responsibility of the authorities as the majority of homes here had electricity and water connections which hinted at a nexus among the authorities.
“How can one get so many facilities in illegal constructions? I have demanded action on those government officials found to have allowed these encroachments to flourish and also MCOCA to be slapped against the land mafia,” said Praveen Darekar, BJP neta and leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, who visited the surviving Yadav girls Tuesday at the Kalwa Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Memorial hospital.
Meanwhile, the corporation, late Monday, evacuated nearly 150 families from the stretch to safer places to avoid any recurrence following instructions from guardian minister Eknath Shinde.
“We are also monitoring the health of these residents on the backdrop of Covid as many had come in close contact over the evacuation drive on Monday,” said an official.
