An eight story building collapsed, 52 peoples died and 69 severely wounded. Sub-Standard Sand, outdated Cement and Sub-Standard Fly Ash are blamed for this horrible event. Fly Ash used in structural concrete should bear the ISI Standard Mark of the Bureau of Indian Standards to make it a secure construction material.
Translation of a report published in LOKMAT:
Maharashtra Government has stopped the lifting of natural sand from their resources because of that builders are using stone sand or artificial sand instead of natural sand. This has deteriorated the quality of the construction. The Mumbra incident has proved this fact.
Maharashtra Government has not permitted to lift the sand from its resource in Thane district but still constructions are going on at many places. The builders are using stone sand or artificial sand instead of natural sand and fly ash instead of cement on large scale.
Last year the rate of the sand was Rs. 4000 to 5000 / brass. At present the builders from Thane district are getting the sand from Gujrat which cost Rs. 9500 to 10000 / brass. Because of the high rate of the sand, builders prefer artificial sand or stone sand. During 1992 – 1995 the lifting of the sand was not allowed and the builders of Ulhasnagar used stone sand and many buildings were damaged and accidents happened. Five to six years back in Khutari village of Taloja near New Mumbai, builder used soil mixed sand and the wall of a godown fell down taking life of 10 peoples.
Government owned but outdated cement was used in the construction of the building which collapsed on Shilphata – Mhape road near Mumbra which took life of 52 peoples. This was found out from the cement bags which were lying near the site.
Since 2001 Dirk India is advocating to make the ISI Standard Mark for Fly Ash in the same way mandatory as it is for all cements. Incidents like this should make the Government to rethink this issue.