Owner of junk-filled Queens home cleans up act
The owner of a Queens home that has become a towering trash dump finally began hauling away debris Thursday — after The Post’s front-page story sparked action from city officials.
Mahindra Ramlal, who has racked up $343,000 in unpaid fines since 2015, and two buddies were seen moving some of the countless bags from the South Jamaica home into the back of a U-Haul van.
“I am going to pick up all the stuff and take it to the dump,” Ramlal told The Post.
Complaints to city officials from neighbors about the potential fire trap and health hazard fell on deaf ears for years until The Post reported on the trash tower Wednesday.
Neighbors pleaded with super-hoarder tenant Carmine Bhimull to clean-up the rat-infested nightmare but they said their calls to city agencies, 311 and the local assemblyman went unanswered.
In the wake of The Post’s coverage, a cavalcade of at least five city agencies finally stepped in on Thursday and were at the 118th Avenue residence to convince Ramlal to clean up the mess.
FDNY Chief of Division 13 James Maloney led the meeting — attended by officials from the Department of Social Services, the Sanitation Department, the Department of Buildings, Housing Preservation and Development and Emergency Management — and said cleanup efforts were expected to take several days.
“He is claiming he doesn’t have the money to do it most expeditiously, so he is going to do it this way,” said Maloney.
“The important thing is we don’t want to lead to any confrontation,” he said.
Ramlal — an ex-boyfriend of Bhimull’s — threatened FDNY officers trying to gain access to the home on Wednesday, telling them, “We have two big dogs. They’ll tear you apart.”
A Department of Buildings employee told The Post he’d be back Thursday afternoon to see if any progress had been made.
If not, Maloney warned the agencies would “tighten up the noose.”
Bhimull was loaded into an ambulance outside the home on Wednesday night and taken to Queens Hospital Center for psychiatric evaluation, FDNY said.
Ramlal said the trash was Bhimull’s “treasure” and warned she’d be “furious” when she got back from the hospital to find the garbage gone.
The city has slapped a vacate order on the front door of the home, banning anyone from entering the pigsty.
Frustrated neighbors rejoiced at the sight of the clutter being carted away on Thursday.
“I’m so happy that the place is finally getting cleaned up,” said Pat Johnson, 66, who lives three doors down.
“You guys made my day. I just want to see the front and back yard again.”