Pune, July 9: Rescue teams recovered one body from the debris of the building that collapsed at a waste management plant in Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune on Thursday, while nine people have been rescued so far as multi-agency teams continued intensive search operations to trace those still trapped beneath the rubble, officials said.

The three-storey structure, situated above a waste-to-energy plant at Moshi, came crashing down on Wednesday afternoon after a massive mound of legacy waste collapsed onto the building, burying the structure and trapping around 18 people under the debris.

Seven people were rescued within hours of the incident, while two more were pulled out safely after midnight, taking the total number of survivors to nine.

Providing an update on the ongoing rescue efforts, a senior National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) official said one body was recovered on Thursday morning, while the locations of two more bodies have also been identified beneath the debris.

“The NDRF is doing its best. We are making our entry from the horizontal space, which has been dug manually with the help of hands and that all. And we have reached and narrowed it down to two bodies, while another one has been recovered,” Commandant of the 5th Battalion of the NDRF, S.B. Singh, told reporters.

“Three bodies have been traced. One has been recovered; the other two are still under rubble, of which the second is visible from afar, but it will take some time,” he added.

Singh said the operation remained extremely challenging as the damaged structure was in a highly unstable condition, posing a constant risk to rescuers working at the site.

“The first and foremost challenge is that the building can collapse, in which my rescuers can be caught. So, that is the greatest challenge, because the building is highly unstable and a lot of load is there. To find out the structural stability of the building, we are trying our best, in whichever way we can enter, so that further collapse doesn’t happen; whoever is trapped inside, they don’t get further suppressed or burdened by a lot of rocks and a lot of concrete material. So, that’s the greatest challenge we are facing,” he added.

He further explained that access to the collapsed building was extremely difficult because the structure had tilted at an angle of nearly 45 degrees, leaving rescuers with no option but to crawl through narrow openings to reach those trapped inside.

Singh said heavy machinery could not be used to remove the concrete debris as the vibrations could trigger another collapse, further endangering both the trapped victims and rescue personnel. As a result, teams are carefully removing the rubble manually.

“It will certainly take time, but we’ll do our best,” he said.

The NDRF officer also stated that despite using advanced life detection equipment, including life detectors, acoustic sensors and sniffer dogs, rescuers had not detected any signs of life beneath the debris.

Officials said several employees of Antony Lara Renewable Energy, which operates the 14 MW waste-to-energy plant in partnership with the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), were among those trapped when the building collapsed.

The PCMC had initially stated that 23 people were believed to be trapped under the debris. Of them, five managed to escape on their own before rescue teams reached the site and launched operations.

The rescue mission is being carried out jointly by personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, the Indian Army, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Fire Brigade, the Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority Fire Brigade and the police.

Mumbai: Samajwadi Party MLA from Bhiwandi East Raees Sheikh has demanded that the committee announced by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday (9th) to draft the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Act has not given adequate representation to all minority communities and the Muslim community should be represented in this committee.

Speaking in this regard, MLA Raees Sheikh said that the minority community in Maharashtra is 20 percent. It includes six communities namely Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs and Parsis. Among these communities, the largest number is only the Muslim community which constitutes 11 percent of the total population of the state. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today announced a 7-member committee in the Legislative Assembly. Not a single Muslim representative has been included in it. The Uniform Civil Code is most closely related to the Muslim community. There is confusion and fear among the Muslim communities regarding this code. Therefore, there is a need to give representation to the Muslim community in this committee. The state government cannot implement a uniform civil code without taking the Muslim community or the minority community as a whole into confidence. The government should not take a unilateral decision regarding this law. Raees Sheikh demanded that the committee be reconstituted by including a representative of the Muslim community in the 7-member committee headed by former Justice Ranjana Desai. MLA Raees Sheikh also said that we will soon meet Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in this regard.

Mumbai, July 9: In a major move towards implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), the Maharashtra state government has constituted a high-level committee to draft the framework. Making the announcement in the Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis shared details regarding the committee’s chairperson and its members.

The panel has been tasked with studying the matter and submitting its comprehensive report within the next six months. The government aims to table the draft UCC bill during the upcoming winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur, where it will be presented before both Houses to initiate the legislative process for enactment, said the CM.

A seven-member committee has been formed under the chairmanship of retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai to chart out the framework for implementing the UCC in the state.

Announcing the panel in the state Assembly, CM Fadnavis stated, “A seven-member committee, comprising legal experts, educationists, and social workers, is being formed. The committee is expected to submit its report within the next six months. Our effort is to take this report and introduce the bill in both Houses during the winter session in Nagpur.”

The committee features a robust lineup of legal, administrative, and social experts, including three retired judges from the Supreme Court and High Courts, a constitutional expert, a former bureaucrat, and two prominent figures from the social sector.

Headed by Retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Desai, the committee includes Retd High Court Justice R.C. Chavan, Retd High Court Justice S.G. Mehare, D.K. Jain (Former Chief Secretary), Birendra Saraf (Former Advocate General), Padma Shri Ramesh Patange (Social Worker) and Dr Suvarna Rawal (Educationist/Constitutional Expert).

Earlier, Minister of State (Home) Yogesh Kadam informed the state Legislative Assembly on June 23 that the Maharashtra government had approved the formation of a retired high court judge-led committee to submit a report on the implementation of UCC in Maharashtra. The UCC will be implemented in the state after receiving the committee report.

“The Maharashtra government is positive about the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code. The Chief Minister has given his nod to form a committee led by a retired High Court judge to prepare a draft of the UCC. Once the report is submitted, the UCC will be implemented,” said MoS Kadam.

The minister was replying to the calling attention motion raised by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Devyani Farande over the instances of triple talaq in Nasik district.

Minister Kadam said that once the UCC is brought, the ban on Polygamy will be included in the same. “The government is not against any religion nor an individual. The UCC, when brought, will be applicable to every individual, irrespective of the religion,” he said.

The Maharashtra government’s move comes after Uttarakhand, which was formed in 2000, recently became the first state in the country to successfully implement the Uniform Civil Code under the BJP-led government. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami officially enforced the law on January 27, 2025. The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly passed the UCC bill on February 7 last year, following a draft report submitted by an expert committee on October 18, 2024.

Following Uttarakhand’s lead, several other BJP-ruled states are now actively moving forward to implement a uniform law for all citizens.