11th house collapses at Bowbazar in wake of E-W Metro's tunnel boring

Kolkata: Another building collapsed at Syakra Para Lane in Bowbazar on Monday, in the aftermath of East-West Metro's construction work. The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) subsequently conducted meeting and formed a committee that will go for inspection on Tuesday.

The incident at Syakra Para Lane comes on a day when KMRCL has initiated the work for pulling down five buildings at Durga Pithuri Lane, which have been badly damaged due to the tunneling work.

"A five-member Building Assessment Committee (BAC) has been formed. They are expected to visit the site on Tuesday," said A K Nandy, general manager (Administration), KMRCL.

The BAC members are former Jadavpur University professor Nitin Som, professor Dr Somnath Ghosh, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology professor Dr Amitabho Ghosh, Indian Institute of Technology Chennai guest lecturer Dr N K Pichumoni and Ken Wong, an expert for the Metro project.

The committee will find out the reason of collapse and determine whether the buildings have collapsed due to tunnel boring work. The committee will also find out the soil condition of the place and how old the houses are.

The four-storey building situated at 8 B Syakra Para Lane collapsed at around 9.45 am on Monday, adding to the list of 10 buildings in the Bowbazar area that have already collapsed fully or partially since August 31.

More houses are under the threat of collapse apparently due to tunneling work for the under-construction 16.60-km East-West Metro Railway project. The most affected areas are Durga Pithuri Lane, Syakra Para Lane and Gour De Lane.

Nandy reiterated that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is verifying the residents whose houses have been affected and are thus eligible to get compensation.

"After the verification gets done by KMC, we are releasing the compensation amount. However, tomorrow we will not release the amount because of Muharram. 19 people have been handed over the Rs five lakh cheques last Saturday. Now onwards, we have decided to send the compensation amount directly to the bank accounts of the residents," said Nandy.

The residents of Durga Pithuri Lane, whose buildings would be demolished, were allowed to take their belongings from their houses on Monday.

"We were able to take out television and documents after breaking the window of our house. However, we were unable to take out furniture. Today, the engineers are doing the inspection work. They will start the demolition work on Tuesday," said Avinandan Dutta, a resident of 11, Durga Pithuri Lane, whose house will be demolished.