PUNE: Eight persons, including four children, were injured on Saturday morning after a two-storied illegal building collapsed at Sambhaji Chowk of Keshavnagar in Mundhwa.Residents pulled out three persons, including a girl, from the debris and rushed them to a private hospital for treatment before the fire brigade could reach the spot. The eight injured persons are Kailash Bhandwalkar (60), Chaya (22), Aruna (40), Mugda (1), Sakshi Shitkal (12), Swara (3), Aditya Moryya (5) and Vinita Moryya (30).Poonam Morrya (9), a resident of the building, said, “I was playing when our building started shaking. Stones fell on my back. I screamed for help and ran outside. My neighbours pulled me out minutes before the building collapsed.”Eyewitnesses said a part of the building’s wall collapsed around 8am. The residents were in the process of evacuating, but they got trapped in the debris after the building tilted in the direction of the canal. The building caved in around 11.45am. Three buffaloes in the basement of the building, used as a cattle shed, died.Three fire tenders, two rescue vans and an earth moving excavator rushed to the spot after the control room of the central fire brigade was flooded with telephone calls. Fire brigade station duty officer Prakash Gore, in charge of the rescue operation, said, “There was no space to enter the building facing the canal because it was surrounded by other properties. We pressed into service an earth moving machine for removing the debris from the canal side. We then pushed the debris behind and pressed it because we could not close the nullah. Then we slowly rescued five persons, including children.”He said, “We have rescued two cows, a calf and two buffaloes but three other buffaloes died. An inspection of the building revealed that its owner, Subhash Bhandwalkar, had illegally converted the basement meant for parking into the cattle shed. Bhandwalkar resided on the first floor and he rented out the second to the Moryya family,” Gore added.Shopowner Sandeep Singh said, “I rushed to the spot on hearing a loud noise. The building’s residents were crying for help. I was so afraid that I fled the spot and returned after some time with some people. We managed to rescue a girl and admitted her to a hospital because she suffered injuries on head. Firemen then joined us.”Anil Bhandwalkar, a relative of the building owner, said, “My uncle, a milk businessman, earlier stayed at Gawali Ali at Mundhwa. He shifted to Keshavnagar and constructed a house around 42 years ago. He later constructed a single-storied building around 25 years ago. He then constructed the second floor and rented it out.”Shakti Pradhan, former member of the Keshavnagar gram panchayat , said, “The building collapsed because it could not sustain the additional weight of the second floor, illegally constructed a few years ago.”Activist Pravin Pradhan said, “Had the building collapsed like a pack of cards, the chances of survival of its residents would have been zero. They survived because the dilapidated building tilted and collapsed because the soil of nullah got loose.”PMC corporator Yogesh Sasane, present at the spot, said, “Construction of buildings next to river/nullah is not allowed. Serving notices on illegal buildings will not serve any purpose, the PMC needs to act against them to prevent similar incidents in the future.”Lawyer Rajeshekar Gaikwad said, “The gram panchayat had submitted number of reports to the district collectorate to take action against illegal constructions under Section 53 of the MRTP Act. As the collectorate failed to take action, we demanded that criminal cases be registered against the officers concerned under Section 53 of the act, but till date nothing has happened.”PMC joint commissioner D S Molak said, “We have requested the building permission department to conduct a survey and check stability of properties built over 30 years ago. After receiving the report, we will decide on the action.”The Mundhwa police have made an entry of the accident in the station diary.

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