Relief for old buildings: No heavy rains or gusty winds in city

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials breathed a sigh of relief as the city was neither hit by strong winds nor torrential rainfall due to CycloneYaas on Wednesday.

The Meteorological office had predicted that Kolkata was likely to receive moderate to heavy rainfall along with gusty winds. The wind speed was predicted to vary between 65 to 75 km per hour.

In case of heavy rainfall, apart from water-logging old, dangerous and dilapidated buildings pose a serious threat to the city. "We all keep our fingers crossed and pray that there is no heavy shower as it may lead to the collapse of dilapidated structures," said an official of the Building department of KMC.

There are at least 2,800 old and dilapidated buildings in Kolkata. Most of these houses are situated in north Kolkata particularly along river Hooghly, parts of central and south Kolkata and Behala (Boroughs I, II, III, VI, VII, VIII and XIV). Senior officials of the Building department said the rain water pipes in most of the buildings, which had not been maintained for several years, were clogged. As a result, when there is heavy rain, the water on the roof gets accumulated. This puts additional pressure on the columns of the structures. The ill maintained columns fail to withstand the additional weight and leads to the collapse of the house. In 2019, more than 20 people had died after portions of old buildings fell on them. The officials said there were more than 500 buildings which were "dangerous and dilapidated." The KMC has served notice to the owners, but no effort has been made to repair them. In many cases, the civic authorities have failed to trace the owners.