Walkeshwar balcony collapse kills 51-year-old man on Babulnath Road
A 51-year-old man was killed late Tuesday evening when a portion of a third-floor balcony of a residential building collapsed on Babulnath Road in Walkeshwar, South Mumbai. The incident, which occurred at approximately 11:30 PM, has renewed public safety concerns regarding the structural integrity and maintenance of aging buildings in the city during heavy rains.
The victim was identified as Santosh Ramachandra Bharaskar. According to officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Bharaskar was likely standing near the structure when the balcony suddenly gave way.
Following the collapse, Bharaskar became trapped under the falling debris. Emergency responders extracted him from the rubble and rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead upon arrival.
The structure involved in the fatal incident is a cessed building owned by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). According to authorities, the residential building is more than five decades old.
The fatal collapse has once again highlighted the ongoing risks associated with the lack of maintenance for cessed buildings in South Mumbai. Many of these structures were constructed between the late 1800s and the 1940s. Over the decades, their original building materials—including timber beams, steel members, lime mortar, and masonry—have deteriorated significantly.
During the monsoon season, heavy rains allow water to seep through cracked roofs and walls of these vulnerable buildings. This moisture ingress causes the corrosion of steel, the decay of wooden beams, and the overall weakening of foundations. Consequently, many structural collapses in the region occur during or immediately after periods of intense rainfall.
To address these safety hazards, the BMC recently released its latest list of high-risk structures. For the 2026 monsoon, the municipal corporation has classified 174 buildings across Mumbai as C1, which denotes dangerous and dilapidated structures. These buildings are officially considered structurally unsafe and require immediate evacuation, followed by demolition or redevelopment to prevent further tragedies.
