Mayor orders demolition of KMC’s decrepit pump houses after collapse kills 1

Kolkata: With the death of a person resulting from the collapse of a dilapidated pump house of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Mayor Firhad Hakim has ordered that all such decrepit pump houses of the civic body be demolished with immediate effect.

The roof of a dilapidated abandoned single-storeyed KMC pump house collapsed on Wednesday evening, resulting in serious injury of a person who was declared brought dead at SSKM Hospital. The incident took place at Purna Das Road in ward 86. The name of the deceased was Pappu Das (36), it is learnt.

Police have said a relative of Pappu Das, Debnarayan Das used to reside in that pump house. Debnarayan, who is a conservancy worker, has said he was not present in the pump house at the time of the incident. Pappu, who was visiting him on that day, was inside the structure. The pump house collapsed in the evening while it was raining. Locals heard a loud noise and subsequently saw the collapsed pump house. He was declared dead at the hospital.

The councillor of the ward, Sourav Das said that the pump house was used for storage of conservancy materials and the civic body had strictly ordered against residing inside the structure. Debasish Kumar, Member Mayor-in-Council, who also visited the spot said no one was supposed to reside in there.

Hakim has now asked for the demolition of such dilapidated pump houses under KMC. Meanwhile, sources said the building department’s demolition team has been ordered to carry out demolition of buildings in the city that pose a high risk of collapse.