THANE, May 21 -- Six people died and five others suffered injuries when a slab collapsed from the fourth floor of a four-storeyed dilapidated Shri Saptashrungi building, in Chiknipada, Kalyan East, at 1:30 pm on Tuesday. As the slab gave way, it resulted in the successive collapse of the third and second floors - all of it collecting in a heap of debris on the ground floor. The building, constructed in 1995, was declared dangerous for living by the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC)'s J-Ward last month, following which the municipal commissioner Abhinav Goyal had ordered civic officials to carry out its structural audit. Designed in a Z-shape, it has 52 flats; 20 families were residing in it at the time of the crash. The fourth floor flat, whose floor caved in, belongs to Krishna Chaurasiya, a small business owner. Chaurasiya and his family had shifted to a neighbouring building a month ago giving up their house for renovation. At the time of the incident labourers were carrying out maintenance work. By the end of the day, based on the complaint of a J-Ward official, Kolsewadi police registered a case against Chaurasia on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with violations under Section 44 of the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act and Rule 2(2) of the Unified Development Control and Promotion Regulations (UDCPR). The accused has been taken into custody, and legal proceedings for his arrest are underway. While extending his condolences to the bereaved, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced Rs.5 lakh for the family of the deceased. Early in the afternoon, coupled with the loud noise of the crash, recalled survivors later, in a blink of an eye the floors collapsed like a house of cards, trapping many under the debris. Family members screamed for help, prompting neighbours to rush with help. However, it was difficult for them to enter the affected homes. Officers from the fire department and emergency teams from J-Ward arrived at the spot in 10 minutes, following which Goyal summoned the Thane District Disaster Response Team to assist in the rescue operation. Shashikant Takke, a resident of the second floor, said, "The slabs on the lower floors collapsed unable to take the cumulative pressure. I wasn't home at the time, but my mother was. Thankfully, neighbours rescued her. Our living room has caved in completely." Salman Shaikh, a resident of a nearby building, recalled that last year the slab of one of a second floor flat had collapsed as repairs were being carried out. "The situation was not as disastrous, of course," he said. Two families residing on the first and second floors suffered severely. On the first floor, two-year-old Namsavi Shelar was with her grandmother Aruna Veer Narayan, while Sharvil Shrikant Shelar, 4, was here visiting his great-grandmother, Sushila Narayan Gujar, 78. Namasvi and Sushila died in the incident, while Aruna is in the ICU of Ameya Hospital. Rekha Shelar, Namsavi's aunt, said, "All of them had gathered here to spend the summer together. The slab hit Namsavi and my grandmother. The other two were later pulled out from the debris. Sharvil has sustained multiple head injuries." Another family, the Sahus, on the second floor, were also celebrating the summer vacation together. Sunita Nilanchal Sahu, 39, the resident was hosting her sister Sujata Padi, 38, their mother Pramila Kalcharan Sahu, 56, and her nephew Vinayak Padi, 4. Sunita's daughter Shraddha, 12, was also in the house at the time. Sunita, Pramila and Sujata died in the incident. Sunita's son 16-year-old Ganesh, who was saved as at tuitions, said, "Sab khatam ho gaya." The bodies have been sent to Rukminibai Hospital for post-mortem. "The slab collapse is a grave incident. We urge citizens in old or potentially dangerous buildings to conduct structural audits to prevent such tragedies," said Goyal. Other families have been temporarily shifted to safety to Dyanmandir School nearby....