Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) started demolishing the ‘dilapidated’ portion of Poonam Mall in Wardhaman Nagar, on Sunday. The drive will continue on Monday too. In the collapse of some portion of roof of closed theatre around Friday midnight, a watchman had died and two others sustained injuries. On Saturday, NMC officials inspected the site and declared parts of Poonam Mall as ‘dilapidated’. NMC issued notice to the owner company M/s Indo Pacific Software & Entertainment Limited asking it to demolish the dilapidated portion ‘in 24 hours’. In its notice, NMC had mentioned that the pucca reinforced cement concrete construction of theatre of 3,571.10 sq mtrs on the third and fourth floors of the building collapsed, turning the construction of 7,142.20 sq mtrs on the first, second, third, and fourth floors towards the eastern side of the said building ‘dilapidated’. Accordingly, NMC squad reached Poonam Mall at 11 am on Sunday to demolish ‘dilapidated’ portion of the massive structure.
Chandrakant Gabhane, Executive Engineer; and Vijay Humne, Assistant Commissioner (Lakadganj Zone), led the NMC team. The area around the building was cordoned off. As the building was tall, the team roped in a turn-table ladder (TTL) called from Fire and Emergency Services Department. However, due to inadequate space for movement of heavy equipment and excavators, NMC team could not get ‘desired success’ in demolishing the dilapidated portion of the building. The officials stopped the drive in evening. On Monday, NMC squad will once again resume the demolition, using excavators. Pradeep Pohane, Chairman of Standing Committee of NMC, also visited the site on Sunday. Ashok Patil, Assistant Commissioner; Sanjay Kamble, Superintendent; and others were present on the occasion.
Citing VNIT report, Maha Metro says its construction did not damage Poonam Mall Armed with assessment done by Visveraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Maha Metro stated that it’s construction activities have nothing to do with collapse of portion of Poonam Mall at Wardhaman Nagar. While the Metro officials had already denied the allegation, it went a step further and commissioned structural investigations through VNIT. A VNIT team inspected the site, collected data, took photographs and undertook detailed analysis and concluded that there is no role of Maha Metro in the collapse of a portion of the roof of Poonam Mall. In its assessment of the ongoing Metro’s construction activity, it stated that the works cannot be a cause for the structural failure vis-a-vis that of Poonam Mall.
It also noted that that site of Metro activity is sufficiently away from the Mall and ruled out any vibration to nearby structures. The Maha Metro also underlined that till date it did not receive any complaint from Poonam Mall owner regarding its construction activity. Similarly, no complaint was received from occupants of nearby buildings, which are closer than the Mall. Residential multi-storied apartments still closer to Metro construction are intact. Poonam Mall is apparently in dilapidated condition with cracks visible on main road and rear sides.
After the structural failure on Friday, leaning of the wall is from second floor upwards, confirming that the failure is not from foundation but from upper floor, the Metro release claimed. No excavation activity or heavy machinery movement was undertaken in recent past by Metro here and so far its track record on safety and protection of structures in vicinity of its sites is firmly intact. The allegation could be an attempt to blame Maha Metro for covering up own lapses, said the release.
