Rohit Pawar Alleges Delay in Rescue After Mumbai Building Collapse, Seeks ₹10 Lakh Compensation

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar on Monday criticised the response of civic authorities following the building collapse in Mumbai’s Mankhurd area that claimed six livesalleging that local residents, rather than emergency personnel, carried out the initial rescue efforts.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the site, Pawar said the victims included five children and one adult. He said grieving family members were unable to speak due to the trauma, but neighbours and relatives told him the structure had been showing signs of instability for the past few days.

Key Highlights

• Six people, including five children, were killed in the Mankhurd building collapse.
• Rohit Pawar alleged the building had been shaking for two to three days before the incident.
• He claimed local residents conducted the initial rescue as emergency teams did not arrive promptly.
• The MLA demanded ₹10 lakh compensation for each victim’s family instead of the announced ₹5 lakh.
• He urged the government to strengthen building safety measures to prevent similar tragedies.

Pawar alleged that neither the Mumbai Fire Brigade nor officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) reached the site in time after the collapse. According to him, local residents retrieved the victims from the debris and rushed them to hospital, but they had already succumbed to their injuries.

“We were informed that the building had been shaking for the last two or three days. Local people removed the victims from the rubble because emergency teams did not arrive in time,” Pawar claimed.

The NCP (SP) leader also questioned the compensation announced by the government. He said authorities had declared ₹5 lakh for the families of each deceased victim, while pointing out that compensation of ₹10 lakh had reportedly been announced in another recent building collapse incident.

“If assistance is being provided, every victim’s family should receive the full ₹10 lakh,” Pawar said, urging the state government to adopt a uniform compensation policy for similar disasters.

He further called on authorities to conduct structural safety inspections of old and vulnerable buildings across Mumbai and ensure timely preventive action to avoid future accidents.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the collapse. Officials are expected to examine the structural condition of the building and determine whether negligence or violations of safety norms contributed to the incident.