Cracks in Thane building, 300 people evacuated

A four-storey building here in Maharashtra developed cracks following which nearly 300 people residing in it were evacuated, an civic official said Tuesday.

The Thane Municipal Corporation's emergency control room got a call Monday night that a pillar on the second floor of the building located in Uthalsar area developed cracks, the civic body's regional disaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said.

Personnel of the civic body and fire brigade rushed to the site and evacuated around 300 people of 57 families living in the nearly 35-year-old residential structure, he said.

The building has been sealed and the families have been temporarily relocated to vacant flats at a housing complex in the city's Bhayander Pada area, Kadam said.

Assistant Municipal Commissioner Shankar Patole said the building was constructed in 1983.