Portion of 140-yr-old building collapses in North Kolkata

KOLKATA: A portion of a 140-year-old building in Bagbazar Street collapsed on Wednesday night. Twelve residents, who got trapped, were rescued by the workers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation's Disaster Management team. No one was injured.

The incident took place around 9.30 pm. Senior police officers went to the spot along with their counterparts in KMC. Six families stay in the old dilapidated building.

Senior KMC officials said the house had not been repaired for many years and the portion collapsed after accumulated water on the roof exerted additional pressure on the structure which failed to bear the load and collapsed.

The civic authorities had given notices to the owners of severely dilapidated buildings in the city and requested them to vacate the premises at the earliest.

This building was also declared dilapidated but the residents refused to vacate the house.

Senior officials of the Building department will visit the site on Friday to decide whether the residents will be allowed to repair the affected portion or it will be pulled down.