Safety concerns: KMC serves notice to stop pandal work at Mohammad Ali Park
KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has issued a notice for stopping the construction of pandal of the Mohammad Ali Park Durga Puja, raising safety concerns for the pandal hoppers.
The pandal was being set up at the park, that rests over an underground reservoir. The reservoir is in bad condition. KMC officials have pointed out that the Puja committee has not taken the permission from the civic body before taking up the construction work. Mohammad Ali Park Puja is a major crowdpuller. It is being feared that large gathering of people at the place during Durga Puja may result in disaster.
According to sources, a few days back engineers from the Water Supply Department of KMC visited the site and had verbally asked the Puja committee not to take up construction of the Puja pandal on the reservoir. A meeting was held at the KMC on Saturday, following which the Director General of Water Supply served a notice restricting any further construction. The KMC officials have asked the organisers to pull down the portion that has already been erected. In 2019 and 2020, the Puja was held inside the fire station adjacent to the park. Last year, the Puja was held occupying a staircase and a small part of the ground.
The underground reservoir at Mohammad Ali Park had partially collapsed on March 31, 2019 morning and water gushed out, leaving Chittaranjan Avenue flooded for several hours. Immediate, mending was done temporarily to avoid entry of foreign material and contamination in the reservoir water.
Experts from the Construction Engineering department of Jadavpur University were roped in for identifying the reason behind the collapse. The report submitted by the department stated clearly that the underground reservoir with an arch-shaped roof that was built during the British rule to store water was beyond repair.
The major recommendations of the JU experts stated that further increment of load in any form (live or dead) is to be restricted as the age old existing buried structure is already under significant overburdened load (soil).
"We have been called for a meeting at KMC headquarters on Monday by DG (Water). Decision regarding Puja will follow after the same," Ashok Ojha, Joint Secretary of the Youth Association of Mohammad Ali Park Puja committee said.
