MUMBAI: With tears rolling down his eyes and medical reports in his hands, 58-year-old Anil Jovil waits outside the hospital room while nurses change the bandages of his daughter, Vishakha, 22, who has been bedridden for 50 days. The nurses help her to sit, as the lower part of her body is paralysed.
Jovil wipes his tears and enters the room to motivate his only daughter, telling her that she will be able to sit and walk on her own soon. With no time to mourn his only son Omkar, daughter-in-law Aarohi and one-year-old granddaughter Utkarsha, who died in the building collapse that badly injured Vishakha, Jovil has been fighting every day to save his daughter from being bedridden all her life. “I don’t want to lose my daughter too,” he said in a choked voice.
Vishakha was one of the nine persons injured in the Ramabai Apartment building collapse in Virar which killed 17 people on August 26. She is being treated at Sai Samarth, a private hospital in Virar East, and her medical bills are mounting by the day.
After the accident, CM Devendra Fadnavis had announced ₹5 lakh each for the families of the deceased and free treatment for the injured from the Chief Minister’s Fund. However, with the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) having ceased to pay Vishakha’s medical bills and the collector yet to release the compensation and medical treatment amount, the cash-strapped Jovil has been going from door to door for help. “She will get proper treatment and be able to walk only if the promised money comes,” he said.
Vishakha, who completed four semesters of her law degree before the accident, said the compensation of ₹15 lakh for her brother and his family, if released on time, could help her stand on her feet. “I want to complete my LLB,” she said. “I do not want to be a burden on my parents for the rest of my life. I request the government and the collector to help me achieve my goals and give a better life to my parents, which my late brother intended to do. I want to become a lawyer and fight for the rights of the poor and fulfil my brother’s dreams.”
On the fateful day, Utkarsha’s first birthday was being celebrated in their home in Ramabai Apartment. The Jovil family had gathered for dinner. Soon after, all the relatives left except for Vishakha, who stayed to help clean up. It was at that point that a portion of the building came crashing down, killing Omkar, Aarohi and baby Utkarsha and trapping Vishakha and eight others beneath the rubble and debris. After a rescue operation of eight hours, they were extricated and rushed to different hospitals in the vicinity.
Former MLA Kshitij Thakur got the injured admitted and paid for their treatment for a few days. However, since Vishakha’s condition was critical, she was admitted to another private hospital. Her parents were asked to bear the cost of further treatment themselves. “My daughter has been fighting death but we have received no help,” said Jovil.
Apart from MLA Rajan Naik from Nalasopara, who has assured the family that he will personally look into the matter and get help for Vishakha and others, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress General Secretary Dinesh Kamble has also been working for the victims’ compensation. Kamble said that the municipal corporation should have been paying for Vishakha’s medical treatment, and has written several letters to the collector and the CM demanding this. “The VVCMC commissioner gave Vishakha ₹20,000 for her treatment but how long will that last?” he asked. “We want her entire expenses to be borne by the corporation so that she can be shifted to a better hospital.”
Kamble said that it was mandatory to conduct a construction and structural audit once every five years of buildings that were 15 to 30 years old and once every three years of those that were more than 30 years old. “Since the rate of collapse of dilapidated buildings is increasing by the day, a structural audit should be made mandatory by a structural auditor on the corporation’s panel or approved by another authority, and a white paper should be published on the subject,” he said.
When contacted, VVCMC commissioner Manoj Kumar Suryavanshi told HT that the initial expenses had been borne by the municipal corporation. “We will also take care of any further expenses,” he said.