Mumbai: A part of civic authority-run Siddharth General Hospital building at Goregaon West on Wednesday was demolished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) without using explosives in order to construct a new hospital. The remaining portion of the structure will be demolished in two phases in two weeks.
The civic body will construct a new hospital having a capacity of 300-bed at the same spot at the estimated budget Rs 300 crore. The hospital will be beneficial for people living between Western stretch of Jogeshwari and Malad.
Since 1998, the 172-bed hospital at Siddharth Nagar in Goregaon (West) has been running healthcare services, started by BMC, however last year the operations were stopped as the hospital building was in dilapidated condition. They decided to pull down the structure to reconstruct a new hospital building.
The Hospital is built on 2.1 acre of land and BMC will get construction permission up to 33,588 square meters. BMC is planning to construct an 11-floor building on the plot. It will be the multi-specialty hospital and the number of beds will be increased from 172 to 300 during the planning stage, said civic officials.
The civic body decided to pull down the building in phases. It has appointed a contractor to remove all the live load from the existing building, like windows and doors. Afterward, they demolished all the pillars on which one of the three wings of the building was standing, excluding two pillars as it held structure in delicate balance.
On Wednesday, with the help of a poclain machine’s long arm, BMC punctured the two pillars one after another. Within a few minutes, the building falls like a pack of cards without disturbing traffic movement on the adjoining road. The BMC will remove the debris before demolishing the remaining two wings of the building with a similar technique.
Within a few months after the total demolition, a new hospital will be erected with all modern facilities catering excellent health care service.