Mumbai bilding collapse kills six as heavy rains trigger political row over safety

Mumbai [India]: At least six people, including five children and a woman, were killed after a ground-plus-three-storey building collapsed in Mumbai amid heavy rainfall, adding to a string of rain-related tragedies that have claimed nine lives in the city over the past six days.

The latest incident has sparked a political confrontation, with the opposition accusing the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of failing to prevent avoidable deaths.

Authorities have launched an inquiry into the collapse, but questions are being raised over how the allegedly illegal structure was allowed to exist and whether regular safety audits or inspections were conducted.

Reporting from the site, officials said the building collapsed late on Sunday night. Rescue operations were carried out through the night, but six people lost their lives in the tragedy.

The area surrounding the collapsed structure remains a cause for concern, with several neighbouring buildings reportedly considered vulnerable. As a precautionary measure, residents from two to three nearby structures have been evacuated.

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Local MLA Abu Azmi claimed he had repeatedly flagged the issue of illegal constructions in the locality, alleging that warnings about unsafe buildings had gone unaddressed.

The incident has intensified political criticism of the state government. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) questioned who would be held accountable for what it described as preventable deaths. Party leader Anand Dubey said Mumbai was witnessing fatalities with every spell of heavy rain and demanded accountability from the Devendra Fadnavis-led administration.

The opposition has also linked the building collapse to a broader pattern of infrastructure failures during the ongoing monsoon. Apart from the collapse, recent incidents of tree falls, balcony collapses and a fatal manhole accident have contributed to the rising death toll across Mumbai.

While the BMC has responded by ordering inquiries into the building collapse and other recent rain-related incidents, opposition leaders argue that investigations alone are insufficient without fixing systemic lapses in enforcement and infrastructure safety.

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With a red alert for heavy rainfall still in effect, concerns remain over the condition of ageing and unauthorised structures across the city, as authorities face growing pressure to identify and secure buildings at risk before further tragedies occur.

Ends.