Bhiwandi building collapse kills 10 despite being on danger list

The Story in Brief

The four-storey Kohinoor Building in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, collapsed late Thursday night, killing 10 people and trapping several others. The building had been declared unsafe by the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation and placed on its danger list both in September 2020 and again hours before the collapse. Around 40 residents were evacuated before the incident, but unauthorised repair work was ongoing when the B wing gave way around 11.30 pm. Twelve rooms on each floor meant 48 total rooms; 11 people were initially reported missing. The Bhiwandi Fire Brigade and NDRF continue rescue operations with sniffer dogs and excavators.

The Hindu reports that the 2020 collapse of the nearby Jilani building, which killed 41, represented a failure of anticipation, whereas the Kohinoor collapse six years later, on the danger list and mid-repairs, represents a failure of enforcement. Officials have filed a criminal case against the contractor. Hundreds of buildings remain on Bhiwandi's danger list with no transit camps for residents. Both collapses occurred during the monsoon. The newspaper notes a pattern of infrastructure failures across India, including bridge collapses in Bihar in 2024-26 and canopy collapses at airports in 2024.