Thane: A portion of the gallery at a chawl collapsed in Maharashtra’s Thane district, trapping 10 persons, officials said on Monday.

The incident took place around 10.30 pm on Sunday, they said, adding the trapped persons were later rescued and all 40 flats in the chawl (row tenement) were vacated as a precautionary measure.

A part of the gallery slab on the first floor of the Sanjay Mhatre Chawl collapsed in Diva area, Thane Municipal Corporation’s disaster management cell chief Yasin Tadvi said.

Ten persons were trapped in three flats on the first floor and the fire brigade personnel later rescued them, he said.

The single-storey chawl, estimated to be 15 to 20 years old, is not listed as a dangerous building, he said.

Given the precarious condition of the structure, further safety measures were taken.

There are a total of 40 flats in the chawl and they were vacated as a precautionary measure. Around 35 to 40 residents have been advised to temporarily shift to their relatives’ house until further inspection and repairs, the official said.

Mumbai: The Borivali police have booked the heirs of a developer for allegedly submitting forged documents to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in an attempt to reclaim around 2.5 acres of land previously surrendered to the BMC for additional Floor Space Index (FSI).

The case, registered on August 4 following a BMC complaint, is under investigation by the crime branch. According to the FIR, BMC records from 1967 show that 67,932.75 sq. m of land in Kandivali West belonged to Nanubhai Bhat. Of this, 29,696.34 sq. m was reserved by the BMC for civic amenities like schools, hospitals, and parks. In 1973, Bhat formed M/s Indian Plabango with his five children.

On March 23, 1978, the company informed the BMC it would surrender the reserved land for additional FSI. On May 15, 1978, the land was transferred to the BMC, which issued a receipt granting 50% FSI on reservation plots and 100% FSI on the DP Road to Bhat’s company. Bhat’s company built 18 residential buildings on the unreserved five acres for G.B.J.J. Cooperative Housing Society.

The BMC mandated transferring ownership of the surrendered land and constructing a boundary wall, but the company failed to comply. In 2002, Bhat’s five children— Jagdish Bhat, Sureshchandar Bhat, Girish Bhat, Vatsla Joshi, and Malini Dave—allegedly added their names as heirs to the disputed land without BMC’s knowledge, despite its prior surrender.

The FIR alleges that on February 19, 2004, the heirs fraudulently executed the BMC-acquired land to third parties via a power of attorney given to M/s Shah and Sons partners Vadilal Shah and Vijay Seth. In October 2024, Vadilal Shah transferred this power of attorney to his wife, Bhavana Shah, who, with her son Rinkesh Shah, conducted sale and purchase transactions on the land, which was already in BMC’s possession for public amenities.

Sunil Shete, a 41-year-old Assistant Engineer from RCentral Ward, filed the complaint on behalf of BMC. The accused face charges under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 316(2) (criminal breach of trust), 318(4) (cheating), 336(3) (forgery), 338 (forgery of valuable security), and other relevant sections.

Mumbai: In yet another disruption, the Mumbai Monorail came to a halt midway on Monday morning due to a technical glitch, raising questions about emergency preparedness after the fire brigade allegedly arrived late for the rescue operation.

The incident occurred around 7 am near Mukundrao Ambedkar Road junction when a train travelling from Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk to Chembur stopped with 17 passengers onboard. 

According to fire brigade officials present at the site, the monorail’s technical team had already evacuated all passengers safely by the time the rescue team arrived. The halted rake was later moved to Wadala through coupling.

Sources, however, claimed that the fire brigade reached the spot by over half an hour late. In a similar incident earlier, the Mumbai Fire Brigade rescue team reached by nearly an hour late, leaving most of the evacuation work to the monorail staff. Two monorail were stuck the then wherein hundreds of passengers were rescued.

The repeated delays by fire brigade team have raised concerns over in case of a serious accident.

During such disruptions, emergency batteries keep air-conditioning and lights running inside the monorail coaches. But prolonged evacuation efforts risk exhausting the backup system, causing passengers to face breathing discomfort and lack of ventilation, same was complained by commuters in Monday’s (today) and earlier incident.

Officials said that newly procured monorail rakes equipped with advanced technology are still undergoing safety tests so to integrate with the existing system. 

The monorail, spanning 17 km between Chembur and Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk, currently runs 118 trips daily at 18-minute intervals. However, its ridership remains modest—about 16,000 on weekdays and just 10,000 on weekends.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has ordered 10 new rakes from Medha Servo Rail Pvt. Ltd. at a cost of Rs 58.9 crore each, with some already under trial runs.