Mumbai: A parked two-wheelers fell into a drain after a portion of a footpath caved in on Village Road near the police chowky in Bhandup (W) on Sunday morning. No one was injured in the incident.The collapsed stretch is 3-4m long, said BMC’s S ward officials, who barricaded the area and recovered the two vehicles.“There is an old major nullah flowing beneath the footpath, which is to be reconstructed. A proposal has been submitted and the tender process is underway,” a ward official said. “We will immediately restore the footpath, carry out a safety audit, and reconstruct the footpath and the nullah.”Former corporator Suresh Koparkar of Congress, whose wife Asha Koparkar is the incumbent local corporator, pointed out that a large number of pedestrians use the footpath which is about 15ft wide. “Fortunately, there were no casualties. Had the incident occurred later in the day, many people could have fallen into the nullah.”Koparkar added: “The nullah was constructed about 17-18 years ago and no work has been carried out since then. I have been pursuing the BMC administration for the last several years to conduct a structural audit of the nullah and replace the footpath tiles…The central agencies have done no work here.”Following the incident, which took place around 4.15am, BMC asked shopkeepers adjoining the nullah to shut their establishments as a precautionary measure. Koparkar said: “I have sought financial assistance from the civic body for the seven shopkeepers, which include medical, hotels and grocery shops, who have been asked to shut their shops. The BMC has to carry out the restoration work on a war footing.”Meanwhile, on Saturday, a 55-year-old man sustained minor injuries after a portion of the ceiling plaster of a first-floor flat in a ground-plus-four-storey Mhada building in Kalachowkie collapsed. The incident occurred in Building No. 42, opposite Shaheed Bhagat Singh Maidan on Veer Vikrant Hadkar Marg in Abhyudaya Nagar. The injured, Raes Ali (55), was treated at a private hospital and discharged, said officials.
