Mumbai: Private contractor, site engineer held over mudslide incident near Metro rail station at Magathane

Magathane Metro station on the WEH on Tuesday. Pic/Anurag Ahire

The Mumbai Police have arrested a contractor and a site engineer of a private construction project in connection with the incident of mudslide that occurred earlier this week near the Metro rail station at Magathane in suburban Borivali, an official told news agency PTI on Thursday.

A complaint was filed by the officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) at Kasturba Marg police station, he said.

The mudslide occurred at the excavation site adjacent to Magathane station on the Metro line-7 earlier this week following heavy rains in the city. The excavation work was carried out by a private builder, officials have said.

Photographs and videos of the mudslide next to the Dahisar-end exit gate of the metro station went viral on social media, prompting people to raise question marks over the safety of metro rail operations between Andheri east and Dahisar east.

Based on MMRDA's complaint, a first information report (FIR) was registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 336 (rash and negligent act that endangers human life) and 34 (common intention), the police official told PTI.

"The private contractor and the site engineer were arrested and produced before a court, which released them on bail," the official told PTI.

As per the complaint, the contractor and the site engineer did not take precautionary measures during the piling work, he said.

Piling is the process of driving or boring pile foundations into the ground beneath a building that is under construction.

The Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Ltd (MMMOCL), the MMRDA and the Mumbai civic body conducted an inspection on Wednesday, in which they observed that due to a deep excavation carried out by a builder adjacent to a storm water drain chamber near Entry/Exit 2 of Magathane station, the surrounding soil collapsed and damaged the chamber wall.

The MMMOCL said in a release on Wednesday that the incident did not affect the normal operations of the metro services.

To ensure the safety of passengers, the Dahisar side entry and exit points of Magathane station on metro line-7 have been temporarily closed, the MMMOCL said.

MMRDA commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, who is also chairman and managing director of MMMOCL, said that after the joint inspection of three agencies, they concluded that there is no risk to the operation of metro services.

(With inputs from PTI)