Also Read: Dongri building collapse: Death toll rises to 13, 9 injured

Volunteers help take a victim out of the debris through the narrow lanes of the crash site. Pics/Suresh Karkera

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Members of the trust, who are the landlords of the building, stated there are two buildings on their land and both are legal. These buildings are locally known as Kesarbai B and Kesarbai C — there is no Kesarbai A — of which the former collapsed.

Also Read: Dongri building collapse: 35-year-old doesn't know wife, son died

'Building is illegal'

MHADA officials, however, claimed that the building is illegal. Vaishali Gadpale, chief public relations officer, MHADA said only one of the buildings comes under their jurisdiction. "There were two buildings on the plot. Kesarbai Mansion comes under our jurisdiction and we had gotten the building vacated last year. The other building, which collapsed, is behind Kesarbai Mansion and is not a MHADA cessed property. It's an illegal property, which is why we didn't intervene," she said.

A 12-old-girl being pulled out alive from the crash site

MHADA had issued a notice on August 10, 2017 to all the tenants of Kesarbai Mansion asking them to vacate the premises and apply for transit accommodation. The notice was, however, addressed to tenants of 'C' building.

80
No. of fire officials involved in the rescue operations

35
No. of NDRF members involved in the rescue operations

Both failed

Barkat Ali Unia, one of the trustees, blames both BMC and MHADA for not taking appropriate action on time. "The structural audit was done for both the buildings and we had written to BMC and MHADA, asking them to disconnect the electricity and water connection of the buildings in order to evacuate the tenants. But they failed to do so," he said. He added that they had sent another evacuation notice to the tenants, BMC and MHADA in March this year as well.

Also Read: Dongri building collapse: Location and locals complicate rescue ops

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